Obituary: DJ Robert W. Knight was an Ottawa radio legend

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It was “Your Favorite DJ”. The ride home host with “The Five O’Clock Whistle”. The voice on the air that would not only spin his request, but would take the time to make you feel a personal connection to his favorite station, whether it be CFGO, Energy 1200, The Bear or the venerable CHEZ 106.

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When news broke last week that Robert W. Knight had died, it was as if fans had lost a touchstone to his youth and the days of Top 40 AM radio.

“He was one of the last great DJs,” said his friend Art Stevens, a producer for CFGO.

Born James Wilkinson in Montreal, Knight began his career in Pointe-Claire, Quebec, with CFOX, but came to Ottawa after that station switched to a news format in 1977. He landed a job with fledgling CFGO: “The Go 14”, then challenging the mighty CFRA. He took the name Robert W. Knight because it sounded better on air. Using a middle initial was popular with American DJs, and “Knight” came naturally to a guy in the hours from 10 pm to 2 am

“He came here and immediately filled the place. He became everyone’s friend,” Stevens said.

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“He was a very creative guy and he knew how to connect with an audience. Before social media, the only way to do this was through the request line. Robert did very well. Listeners called, and instead of accepting his request, he engaged with them. He would win them over, one listener at a time.”

Knight would eventually go toe-to-toe with CFRA’s dominant Mark Elliott, the two DJs battling for the audience in 15-minute increments.

“There was the external perception that they were fighting for every quarter of an hour, and that is true. That was the public side, but they were also friends,” said Mike Irvin, a producer who worked with Knight on CFGO and then CHEZ. “I wouldn’t call them good friends, but they were friends.”

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A couple of times a year, Elliott and Knight would get together for a beer and review ratings from the Broadcast Measurement Bureau, Irvin said.

“With the numbers from BBM, you can compare quarters of an hour. And they would compare notes. Mark would say, ‘Look, I have you between 6:15 and 6:30.’ And Robert would say, ‘But I have you between 6:30 and 6:45.’ It was a big problem.”

When Elliott resigned from CFRA midway through the show in 1986, he went to work at CFGO and for a time became Knight’s teammate.

Irvin said that Knight was an incredibly hard worker who was dedicated to his show and his audience.

“There were a few times when I came out sweating. It was the passion she had. Those four hours on the air were like a marathon for him. Once he sat in the air chair, he did everything he could to do things, to get good phone calls… he was amazing.

“He treated everyone with respect. There was never any ‘teasing’ afterwards. He would have people call on a regular basis and he would treat them as one-timers and make sure they felt like they had been heard.”

In the early ’80s, Knight even did a stint as one of Canada’s first VJs, hosting a weekend music video show for CHRO-TV.

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When CFGO switched to a sports format, Knight moved to The Bear, giving that station a live DJ on the weekends, when most stations used syndicated shows.

“There were no expectations at all for him. It was, ‘Come in and be a live athlete,’” Irvin said. “Robert had the phones working. He worked very hard to connect with people. And all of a sudden the books for the weekend were like, ‘Oh my God!’”

Knight later went on to successfully host CHEZ’s afternoon drive home show. He did commercial voiceovers, specializing in high-energy pitches.

A friend asked Knight why he never left Ottawa for a bigger market. “Why? And become Robert W. Who?” He replied he.

Off the air since the mid-2000s, Knight reinvented himself again, struggling to find ways to pay his rent. He cleaned the sidewalks in the winter, even delivered pizza. In recent years, she worked at Costco on Merivale Road and enjoyed face-to-face contact with customers. She abstained from alcohol and began living a healthy lifestyle, Irvin said, always keeping in touch with friends from the radio industry, sharing news and the latest ratings.

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He drove around town on a scooter and reportedly died of injuries in a collision, but Ottawa police did not release information about the circumstances of the accident. Knight never married and had a brother who lives in Pointe-Claire. Her Blossom Park apartment has been cleaned out, but there has been no death announcement.

But his many Ottawa friends and fans have flooded social media with memories and tributes.

“His style of delivering his words was an art form in itself! A genuinely talented, friendly, kind and funny guy,” Wendy Daniels wrote.

“RWK always took the time to answer my endless questions and laughed with me about my mistakes on air. More than kind,” Katherine Dines wrote.

JC Coutts, a DJ in Bruce County, recalled this advice from Knight: “A few words have always stuck with me: ‘If it’s not fun, it’s not radio.’

Robert W. Knight was 69 years old.