Ross Ingram: The Voice of New Brunswick

Ross Ingram was just 10 years old when a school tour of a radio station in St. Catharines, Ontario, changed the course of his life. “I guess I was smitten by it right there,” he recalled recently. Nearly 70 years later, Ingram is still behind the microphone — not for the acclaim, but for the connection.

His voice became one of the most familiar in New Brunswick broadcasting, tracing a path through Canadian media history — from wartime radios to livestreamed commentaries — while helping shape the very institutions that once shaped him.

A Voice That Helped Build CBC in New Brunswick

Ingram was the first voice heard on CBC Fredericton when the station launched in 1964. “We devised our own programs and set up a newsroom with one person,” he said. It wasn’t glamour — it was grit. His team built a foundation for public broadcasting in the province, often from scratch, with equipment that wouldn’t pass for amateur today.

That DIY spirit followed him through every stage of his broadcasting career — from radio stations like CKEC in New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, to CHSJ in Saint John, and eventually, to the CBC.

Television, in its infancy, came with technical challenges that demanded invention. “Our first camera was an industrial one — meant for surveillance,” he said. Zooming in meant jerky movements. Live interviews had to be timed to the second. “If you had 2 minutes and 35 seconds, you had to be out by 2:30,” he explained. There were no do-overs.

Conversations with Prime Ministers — and Everyone Else

Ingram’s interviews ranged from Prime Ministers Lester B. Pearson and John Diefenbaker to Premier Richard Hatfield. But it was never about titles — it was about the people.

“Politics was… fun in those days,” he recalled. “There was a bit of mischief.” He once interviewed a visiting woman known as the “happy hooker,” a moment that only reinforced the unpredictable nature of live television. “It kept you on your toes,” he said.

But Ingram has never chased controversy or spectacle. His philosophy has always been about personal connection — the kind radio does best. “Radio is one person talking to one person,” he said. “You’re not talking to an audience. You’re talking to a friend.”

That mindset shaped his reputation as both a skilled interviewer and a trusted voice. His most enduring advice to aspiring journalists? “Have an honest interest in other people. That’s your news sense.”

Still Broadcasting, Still Believing in Local

Though Ingram retired from CBC in 1986, his voice never faded. From a modest studio in his home, he still records a radio show that reaches listeners far beyond New Brunswick — a quiet continuation of a lifelong passion. “I’m not going to drop that,” he said. “I’m going to keep it up.”

He’s also become a fixture on CHCO-TV, the independently owned community station in St. Andrews, where his segment The Way I See It brings commentary and reflections drawn from a half-century in the field. It’s here, on CHCO — one of the last remaining hyper-local stations in the country — that Ingram has found a new kind of home.

“Local news has taken a beating,” he said. “We need more little stations. The big ones have forgotten the towns.”

Ingram has been a steady voice during a time when media across Canada — particularly in rural communities — have seen widespread consolidation, budget cuts, and closures. His support for community media is not nostalgic; it’s urgent.

A Legacy Measured in Conversations

Ross Ingram’s career defies easy summarization — not because of its length, but because of its quiet depth. He has never been a household name in the celebrity sense. But in households across New Brunswick, his voice has been a companion, a guide, and a witness to decades of history.

He built newsrooms before there were templates. He covered politics when it was still personal. And today, as large-scale broadcasters pull further from small towns, Ingram continues to prove what one voice — speaking to one person at a time — can still mean.