When you’re the morning voice of a radio station it helps to have a sunny disposition to chase all the clouds away.
Mike Benny had that quality in abundance.
Right from the day he joined the staff at CKPG 550 AM in 1985, Benny had a way of charming the pants off his listeners and he was a master of putting Prince George people into a good mood when they tuned in to start their work day. His quick wit, sharp sense of timing and caring nature came through loud and clear over the airwaves and for 35 years he was one of the city’s most popular and beloved radio personalities.
“He was fun to be around and he was consistent, he always seemed to be in a good mood,” said Doug Jones, whose good friend and career co-worker Benny died Thursday.
“He was funny, topical, local and he had the consistency we all strive for. He was quick and thinking ahead of the curve all the time. Not only was he funny, he had a great worldly sense of what’s important and what’s not important. He had all the ingredients and he was the same on the air and he was off the air.”
Benny grew up in Thompson, Man., and started out working in radio in his hometown, then at CKCK in Regina and in Kitimat before he came to Prince George. He had the afternoon shift for about a year at CKPG before he took over the morning slot from Jones, who arrived about six months before Benny.
“We never got a chance to do a show together, which I think would have been so much fun,” said Jones, now the morning show host for 99.3 FM The Drive. “I would meander over to his control room if I had a few minutes and he would meander over to mine and we always had a lot of fun whenever that happened.”
Jones would always know when Benny had been on his computer when he left an open document on his screen. Benny would type in the word ‘beer’ somewhere on the page. He was famous for begging for food on the air and quite often a local restaurant would feel sorry for him and send over something to cure his hunger pangs. Benny always had a joke of the day and he compiled some of his best ‘Mike-isms’ in his book “World’s Punniest Joke Book.”
“My favorite,” said Jones, “and it wasn’t in the book so I got him to write it in, was ‘What is King Kong’s favourite food?’ The answer, ‘A gorilla cheese sandwich.’”
Benny was diagnosed with lung cancer in the fall of 2019 and he died Thursday morning at Prince George Rotary Hospice House. He was 58. An avid fly fisherman who loved to take his canoe to Ferguson Lake, Benny loved computers and was a creative web designer in his spare time. Jones said he had no formal training in broadcasting before he got into radio in his Thompson hometown.
Ashley Hinton was among several co-hosts of the morning show with Benny on CKKN 101.3 Hits FM, which became The River in January 2006, and for three years she sat in the chair next to him laughing at his jokes. On Benny’s Facebook page Hinton posted her top-10 list of his standout qualities which reads:
10. His ability to find joy in the little things. Like making soup in his garage.
9. Storytelling. He could describe the process of making said soup and really make you feel like you were there in all the action.
8. His ability to take any pop song, alter the lyrics and change the way you hear it for you for the rest of your life. ie. Adele "Uma has it."
7. Kindness. He didn't participate in gossip. He was an alien (the good kind).
6. Pressed shirts. Never a wrinkle. Well done, sir.
5. Birthdays and Beermus.
4. His love for space. High school science had nothing on him. I still get creeped out at the thought of us all being a speck of a speck of a speck.
3. Patience. Mike had 1,209 co-hosts. Most of us had little morning show experience and he set us up for success.
2. Those dance movvvess.. Elaine who?!
1. He was just a solid guy. He made people laugh every day. He was a pal to generations of people and he loved his family dearly.
Benny wasn’t big into sports but he took a shine to Chicago Cubs manager Joe Madden and especially liked the “Try not so suck,” T-shirt Madden wore, which made him a Cubs fan that season. Former CKPG news director Dave Barry first met Benny when he started working at the station in 1989 and his first impression of him as a gregarious, well-grounded, intelligent guy with a great sense of humour, who genuinely cared about people became a lasting one.
“He was always friendly, always positive, even in trying times he had a positive attitude,” said Barry. “Anyone who had a conversation with him, whether it was on-air guests from the community or a co-worker in the hallway or even the person who served him his favourite sandwich over at Books & Company, they always came away from those conversations feeling good and often with a smile on their face.”
Benny was the first host of Quiz Me, CKPG TV’s knowledge game show for kids and he also hosted Spruce Capital Rocks, a half-hour show in the ‘90s that was built around music videos.
“Although his humour was always special, he was so talented as an on-air person, radio or TV,” said Barry, now the news director at CFJC in Kamloops. “As talented as he was on-air, he was twice as skilled as a person. He was humble, thoughtful, wise. Every time you finished talking to him you felt better about your situation, and he made everybody better around him. When you had a chance to be on air with you knew you were going to sound good, because he made you sound good. He was pretty incredible.
“Honestly, he could have worked in any market in Canada, in Toronto or Vancouver, but I don’t think that ever interested him. He was really comfortable with where he was in life and his family situation. He was one of those guys Prince George was lucky to have, just a rock we could all rely on.”
Benny leaves behind his wife Laurel and their four children – daughters Claire and Katherine and sons Colin and Alex. The family requests that in lieu of flowers any donations in Benny’s honour be made to the B.C. Cancer Society or Prince George Rotary Hospice House.
