JAZZ.FM91 - Canada's Premier Jazz Station

Photo: John Reeves

President and Chief Executive Officer of JAZZ.FM91 since July of 2004, Ross Porter is acknowledged by jazz lovers from coast-to-coast as Canada ’s preeminent jazz broadcaster.

Perhaps best-known to jazz aficionados for his lengthy and distinguished career as a broadcaster and producer with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s national radio network for many years, Ross Porter more recently developed, launched, and spearheaded programming for Canada’s national jazz channel COOL-TV, also managing day-to-day operations at CanWest’s 24-hour jazz station, COOL-FM and COOL Recordings.

Over past years, he amassed considerable credentials as a producer for widely-lauded network radio documentaries on jazz greats including Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker and many others. He also produced critically-acclaimed television documentaries on music legends such as Oscar Peterson, Joni Mitchell, Quincy Jones, George Harrison, Brian Wilson, and Diana Krall.

Known for his impeccable taste in music, his unique delivery, and his matchless ability to articulate the colorful jazz landscape for radio listening audiences across the country as executive producer and host of CBC Radio’s highly successful daily After Hours jazz show, Ross Porter also shared his passion and unique understanding of the jazz genre with international air travelers as the host of Air Canada’s in-flight audio jazz channel for several years. His lengthy list of background credentials also includes stints as a respected print journalist, both as a music columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press and as a jazz reviewer for The National Post. Ross's current book, The Essential Jazz Recordings: 101 CDs, is a bestseller. It is publlished by McClelland and Stewart.

Winner of numerous honors throughout his illustrious career, Ross Porter was accorded the 2000 CanWest Award for his ‘Outstanding Contribution to Jazz’. The prestigious National Jazz Awards named him ‘Broadcaster of the Year’ in both 2002 and 2004. In the spring of 2009 Porter was nominated, by the Jazz Journalists Association, for the Willis Conover-Marian McPartland Award for Broadcasting.

He  was a member of the Oscar Peterson National Committee, which commissioned Canadian artist Ruth Abernethy, to create a commemorative statue at Canada's National Arts Centre. In June  2010, The Queen and The Duke of Edinburgh unveiled the sculpture in Ottawa.