The affable presence of Dave Barry has beamed into Prince George homes for three decades. On radio and primarily on television, Barry has been an anchor of confident news and community events since he first came here in 1989 as the secondary sports reporter for what is now the Jim Pattison Broadcasting Group. He was hired by then-news director Mike Woodworth to work with then-sports lead Kelly Sharp.
"I moved over to the news side in the early '90s and it was probably the best thing I ever did in my job," said Barry. "I was too inquisitive. I couldn't go as deep as I wanted in sports, so I pursued the news side. But I still believe a good story is a good story, that can certainly come from sports and frequently does."
Barry is not leaving the news profession, but he is leaving the city. Barry accepted a position in Kamloops so he has signed off as news director at CKPG, leaving as one of the longest tenured media figures in the Prince George press corps.
He had to clear his throat a few times as he described what he'd be leaving behind. He admitted "I wasn't actually prepared for how emotional I would feel about this, but yeah, it's hitting me, all the friends and all the memories," he said.
Those who know Barry know he loves to drink Scotch, spend time at the ballpark, and although it's not exactly classified as a hobby, it is what he put his energies to: general community support. He was someone who pitched in. He helped. He gave of himself, far above and beyond his duties at work.
"That's what's really unique about this community, and it really is something special Prince George has going on: when we wanted to build that baseball stadium (Citizen Field, opened in 2006 with strong volunteer support from Barry), we just rallied the troops and we built a baseball stadium. You can assemble the people here, when there's something that's for the good of the community. People support you, and you support them, and each time the community gets a little better."
As a reporter he remembered watershed moments that advanced the community in large ways. He was here to cover the opening of UNBC, the opening of CN Centre, the healthcare professionals' rally that spawned the Northern Medical Program, the opening of the Northern Sports Centre, hosting the Canada Winter Games.
"How can you not respect a community that helped you raise your children and make them into contributing members of society themselves, now," he said. "This city has been more than wonderful to Colleen and I and more than a home."
Barry turned the public eye onto calamities, triumphs, tragedies and comedies of our local culture. He could think of no "best" story even though his news team was the winner of multiple awards. The definitive story for him, when looking back at his professional takeaways, was a mountain helicopter trip he once did with the late George Evanoff who took Barry high into the jagged local landscape to teach him (and thus the public) about the finer points of avalanches.
"It started out as a simple overview of avalanche safety, but it became a story about this man who had so much knowledge because he had such a spiritual love for the mountains. And then when it was an avalanche that took his life, later on, that was just a continuation of that. They don't name a conference room at a hotel after you (at the Coast Inn of the North), and a provincial park, unless you're a special person in the community, and George showed me how you can do that just by doing what you love with passion."
Barry got to exercise his own affinity for the great local outdoors when he left the news business temporarily and was on the communications team for the provincial Ministry of Environment and for the McGregor Model Forest Association for a time.
He came back to the broadcast chair though, unable to shake off the desire to ask questions more than answer them.
"If there's one thing I could say about it all, it's thank you," he said. "Thank you so much for the way you gave a young man a positive path in life that has lasted more than three decades, gave a family a chance to thrive, and it's all been fantastic. I've had a fantastic career. I loved it because it was telling the stories of Prince George, and those were so interesting and so powerful. And there is so much growth potential."
