Chuck Camroux, the broadcasting professional who served as president and CEO of CJRT-FM for six years and was responsible for orchestrating the station’s transition to JAZZ.FM91, has died.

Camroux joined the station in 1998, first leading it into a 24-hour broadcasting format and then becoming the architect of its change to an all-jazz format in 2001. He made the decision to rebrand the station as JAZZ.FM91 with a new logo, website and programming, establishing Canada’s only 24-hour, all-jazz radio station.

Camroux guided the newly birthed JAZZ.FM91 through its first few years until he was replaced in 2004; he subsequently retired after 50 years in the broadcast business.

It was during Camroux’s tenure that JAZZ.FM91 broadcasters Brad Barker and Danny Marks first joined the station.

“Chuck Camroux had the foresight to believe Toronto — and Canada for that matter — could not only sustain a full-time jazz radio station, but deserved one,” says Barker. “He was thoughtful and brave enough to take CJRT-FM to JAZZ.FM91. Making that decision was only the beginning: In those first years as a jazz station, Chuck navigated a very difficult period of making believers out of the naysayers. He loved music and musicians and was also very forward-thinking when it came to seeing the incredible changes that were ahead for the broadcast business. Every time you go to jazz.fm, remember it was Chuck Camroux who made sure we had that address before anyone else on planet Earth.”

During and after his time with JAZZ.FM91, Camroux espoused the importance of the station to the music community.

“If you talk to any of the jazz musicians and music teachers in Greater Toronto, you’ll get an earful of the importance of [JAZZ.FM91] in their lifestyle mix,” Camroux wrote in 2019. “Back when we changed format and ran our first donor pledge drive, which was at the time the most successful in recent history, we certainly felt the passion.”

Here at JAZZ.FM91, we’d like to sincerely thank Chuck Camroux for his invaluable contributions to this station’s legacy, and we extend our heartfelt condolences to his family.