Byron MacGregor
{{Short description|Canadian news presenter and recording artist (1948–1995)}}
{{Infobox person
|name = Byron MacGregor
|birth_name = Gary Lachlan Mack
|birth_date = {{Birth date|1948|3|3|mf=yes}}
|birth_place = Calgary, Alberta, Canada
|death_date = {{Death date and age|1995|1|3|1948|3|3|mf=yes}}
|death_place = Detroit, Michigan, United States
|nationality = Canadian (held dual Canadian/American citizenships)
|known_for = His spoken word recording of "The Americans"
|years_active = 1967–1995
|occupation = {{hlist|News presenter|news director}}
}}
Byron MacGregor (born Gary Lachlan Mack; March 3, 1948 – January 3, 1995){{cite web|author=Doc Rock |url=http://thedeadrockstarsclub.com/1995.html |title=The Dead Rock Stars Club 1994 - 1995 |publisher=Thedeadrockstarsclub.com |date= |accessdate=2015-08-26}} was a Canadian radio and TV news anchor, news director, and recording artist. He received a "LegendsInduction" into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2024.{{cite web |url=https://www.radiohalloffame.com/byron-macgregor|title=BYRON MACGREGOR|date=14 August 2024|work=Radio Hall of Fame |access-date=20 August 2024|quote=a cornerstone of CKLW-AM’s “Big 8/20-20 News” broadcasts. MacGregor had become News Director of the highly rated radio station by the age of 22, which was capable of being heard in 28 states and six Canadian provinces.}} MacGregor had a number four hit record in 1974 on the Billboard Hot 100 with his reading of an editorial, "The Americans."
Career
Born in Calgary, Alberta, he became, on his 22nd birthday, the youngest news director at station CKLW 800 AM in Windsor, Ontario, which also serves Detroit, Michigan, as well as Toledo and Cleveland in Ohio. This was during its "Big 8/20-20 News" period.{{YouTube|BDCdbmwy9l8|CKLW's 20/20 News Team}}
In 1973, he came across a newspaper editorial written by Gordon Sinclair of CFRB in Toronto, a commentary about America. MacGregor then read the patriotic commentary on CKLW Radio as part of a public affairs program. Due to the huge response, he was asked to record "The Americans" with the melody of "America the Beautiful" performed by The Detroit Symphony Orchestra as the background music. Both MacGregor and Sinclair released recorded versions of the commentary. MacGregor's version of the record (released on Detroit-based Westbound Records) became a bigger hit than Sinclair's in the United States, reaching #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart the week of February 9, 1974.Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7th Edition, 2000 It became a gold record. In Canada, MacGregor's version hit #42, while Sinclair's hit #30. MacGregor's recording has sold over three-and-a-half-million copies.{{cite book
| first= Joseph
| last= Murrells
| year= 1978
| title= The Book of Golden Discs
| edition= 2nd
| publisher= Barrie and Jenkins Ltd
| location= London
| page= [https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/331 331]
| isbn= 0-214-20512-6
| url-access= registration
| url= https://archive.org/details/bookofgoldendisc00murr/page/331
}} All of his proceeds have been donated to the American Red Cross. MacGregor was honored with the "National Americanism Award".
MacGregor was known for his deep voice and high-energy announcing style at CKLW, and for writing copy in a manner that was compared to that of sensational tabloid newspapers. He later made the transition to a more traditional anchoring and interviewing style when he moved to WWJ Newsradio 950, the CBS Radio all-news station in Detroit, where he served as both a morning and afternoon drive time anchor during his thirteen-year career there. MacGregor also became the first newscaster in Detroit to simultaneously anchor prime-time newscasts on both radio (WWJ) and television (WKBD-TV 50).
By the mid-1980s, MacGregor held dual citizenships in Canada and the United States. He died on January 3, 1995, from pneumonia.{{cite web|url=https://apnews.com/article/55c006387a28a9ea21cf6fa253100827 |title=DETROIT (AP) _ Byron MacGregor, a veteran TV and radio journalist whose pro-U.S. recording ''The Americans″ got wide air play in the 1970s, died Tuesday of pneumonia. He was 46. |publisher=The Associated Press |date= |accessdate=2021-01-01}} His funeral took place at the McCabe Funeral Home in Farmington Hills, Michigan, and at the Shrine of the Little Flower Catholic Church in Royal Oak, Michigan.{{cite web|url=http://www.thebig8.net/byron.html |title=The Classic CKLW Page - Memoirs of Byron's Funeral |publisher=Thebig8.net |date= |accessdate=2015-08-26}} He was two months short of his 47th birthday. He was survived by his wife of 19 years, Jo-Jo Shutty-MacGregor. She was the first female helicopter news and traffic reporter in North America, and later worked for WWJ and WOMC as well as Metro Networks. MacGregor was also survived by his sister, Leilani Harvie; by his mother, Murdena MacGregor Mack; and by his brother, Hudson Mack, who was news anchor at CIVI-TV in Victoria, British Columbia.
References
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Category:Canadian radio personalities