Vancouver Radio: Talk Host Jon McComb Says He's Retiring

CKNW Studio

After 50-years in broadcasting, veteran talk show host Jon McComb has announced his retirement from CKNW 980 AM in Vancouver, reports Broadcast Dialogue.

“Because I’m old and tired,” joked McComb as he made the announcement at 8:15 a.m. Monday morning. “I will still be involved with CKNW. I just will not be hosting the morning show anymore.”

Jon McComb

“All of this is completely my decision…I’m not being hinted out the door or anything,” asserted McComb.

“This is all the result of a decision I made last month after…having an episode after working out at the gym. I felt just exhausted. I’ve never felt that exhausted. I went to the doctor, did a million tests, ran the treadmill at the heart place…everything was fine. It struck me that time was catching up with me and in October, I was having a hard time just getting ahead on my sleep.”

“I’ve seen this movie before,” McComb told listeners, who took time off about 15 years ago after suffering burnout. “My body is telling me, my mind is telling me, even though my ego is telling me ‘no man, we can do it some more.'”

McComb said after a long chat with his family and his doctor, he made the decision to retire, effective Dec. 13.


McComb has been with CKNW since 1983, after working in Portland, Arizona, and CFCF and CJAD Montreal. He’s held positions at CKNW from anchor and reporter to assignment editor and tape splicer. McComb was the first reporter to become a full-time talk show host at the station, spending 20 years as host and co-host of afternoon show The World Today, alongside Philip Till for the first 10 years. In 2014, he moved into the morning time slot as host of The Jon McComb Show.