Margaret Lyons

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Margaret Lyons
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Other namesKeiko Margaret Inouye
Alma materMcMaster University
OccupationRadio executive
AwardsOrder of Canada

Keiko Margaret Lyons

Member of the Order of Canada
in 2010 for her work in broadcasting.

Early life and education

Lyons was born Keiko Margaret Inouye on November 21, 1923,

London, England.[3]
: 323-4 

Career

Lyons began working as a typist for the

AM radio service before being promoted to vice president of network radio in 1983, becoming the first woman vice president at the CBC.[3]: 324  Within the CBC, Lyons held a reputation of "benevolent ferocity"[4] and was affectionately referred to as the "Dragon Lady".[1][3]
: 324 

During the early 1970s, Lyons was tasked with revitalizing CBC's struggling radio service, which, according to

populist reimagining of CBC Radio was termed the "Radio Revolution".[5]
: 219 

Lyons's changes were met with controversy:

yuppies[8] and turning the CBC into the "Burger Queen of public broadcasting".[6] Supporters called Lyons "formidably brilliant"[6] and commended her for saving CBC Radio from a "suicidal" trajectory.[8] Lyons was remembered by CBC executive Peter Herrndorf as "arguably the most important and the most influential CBC radio executive in the past 60 years" and one of the network's greatest talent developers.[1]

In 1986, Lyons moved back to London, where she worked as Director of European Operations for the CBC. Lyons retired from the CBC in 1991 and returned to Toronto.[2]

Lyons was awarded an honorary

Member of the Order of Canada for her achievements in broadcasting.[9]

Personal life and death

Lyons (née Inouye) married Ed Lyons in 1949.[2] She had two children, a son and a daughter.[1] Lyons served on the McMaster University Senate for six years and volunteered for local historical preservation societies and Japanese cultural organizations.[2][9]

Lyons underwent medically assisted death in Toronto on October 4, 2019.[1][10]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Houpt, Simon (October 11, 2019). "Margaret Lyons, 95, was an influential executive who sparked CBC's Radio Revolution". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on October 15, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Nikkei National Museum and Cultural Centre. "Keiko Margaret Lyons (Inouye)" (PDF). Nikkei Place. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 12, 2018. Retrieved October 16, 2019.
  3. ^
    ISBN 978-0-88780-150-1
    .
  4. ProQuest 1237575848. Lyons rejoices in a reputation of benevolent ferocity within the CBC, and is widely – and usually admiringly – known as the Dragon Lady. – via ProQuest
    (subscription required)
  5. ^
    ISBN 978-1-926812-74-8
    .
  6. ^ a b c Boyd, Denny (December 4, 1985). "Did she turn a top radio service into a Burger Queen?". Vancouver Sun. p. 3. Archived from the original on October 16, 2019. Retrieved October 16, 2019. The Sun's Marjorie Nichols describes her as "formidably brilliant". An Eastern newspaper critic has called her "the woman who took over the best all-brow radio service west of the BBC and turned it into the Burger Queen of public broadcasting".
  7. ProQuest 1238206107. May I, as a former executive producer and one of Margaret Lyons' early victims, add a little more detail? [...] Quasi-popular programs [...] exist only as costly monuments to Miss Lyons' remote patronizing attitude to listeners. The same philosophy, that hype and packaging are more important for boosting audience figures than content, has permeated current affairs programming also. – via ProQuest
    (subscription required)
  8. ^
    ProQuest 1143945702. To suggest – in the foolish shorthand of her least tolerant foes – that she has been driven by a felt need to embrace a yuppie listenership, is to misread her motivations entirely. She has simply responded to research within and without the CBC demonstrating that the corporation was contentedly failing to reach or serve a widening segment of the Canadian public. Such a drift was suicidal. Adjustment was necessary and relatively urgent. – via ProQuest
    (subscription required)
  9. ^ a b "Mrs. Keiko Margaret Lyons, C.M., B.A., D.Litt". The Governor General of Canada. Archived from the original on October 14, 2019. Retrieved October 14, 2019.
  10. ^ "Remembering Margaret Lyons". McMaster University Daily News. October 15, 2019. Archived from the original on November 2, 2019. Retrieved November 2, 2019.

External links

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