He’s been a part of thousands of Quinte region residents’ lives for half a century on a daily basis.
On the afternoon of Monday, September 16, 1974, a 20-year-old Jack Miller cued up his first 45 rpm hit song and introduced himself to listeners on 800 AM CJBQ.
Jack did the afternoon drive show for five years.
“It was weird how it worked out. I’d been hired full-time at my hometown radio station in Cornwall and worked full-time there for almost a year but they brought in a new General Manager and I ended up getting fired. Just days afterward, the then Program Director for CJBQ Milt Johnston called me and asked if I was interested in doing the afternoon show. He’d worked in Cornwall previously and knew about my situation. I came to Belleville for an interview and was told I was too young. Then two days later I got a call and I was hired.”
Jack enjoyed “jocking” but sports broadcasting had always been his first love and he started doing high school games over the school’s public address system.
During the early days of his career, the late and gravelly-voiced Jack Devine was CJBQ’s Sports Director but he was often away as an executive with the national Ice Hockey Federation of the day. Jack was happy to fill in doing sportscasts on those occasions.
In 1979, the Belleville Bulls joined the Provincial Junior Hockey League and Devine was often away doing game broadcasts for the Bulls and that opened up more opportunity for sports work for the younger Jack.
Devine retired in 1981 and his understudy became Quinte Broadcasting’s Sports Director, a position he holds to this day.
At that point, and for decades afterward, hockey became the focal point of Jack’s career.
Starting in 1981 Jack broadcast the vast majority of the OHL’s Belleville Bulls games.
From 1988 to 2002 Jack was the play by play commentator on Global TV’s Game of the Week.
From 1998 to 2002 he was a fill-in on Ottawa Senators radio broadcasts, doing 25 games a year with the NHL team.
Jack was part of the World Junior Hockey Championship national radio broadcasts with The FAN and TSN for 13 years, from 2004 until 2011 and from 2014 to 2018.
He was a very busy man. There were times when he was doing Bulls, OHL Game of the Week, and NHL broadcasts in the same season.
He’s also done dozens of Trenton and Wellington OJHL games.
And on days when hockey wasn’t on the agenda he’d be up at 4 a.m. to do the morning sports shift at Quinte Broadcasting.
“Those days were nuts with all the travel and work, but it was fun, I loved it,” says Miller.
As an example, Jack says one year he had an Ottawa Senators radio broadcast in Florida on a Friday night and the next day on Saturday he had an OHL Game of the Week broadcast to do in Belleville. Game time was 2 o’clock.
“I had to fly to Florida from Toronto for the Friday night game and the only flight that would get me back for the OHL Game of the Week left Florida at 3 a.m. So I had to run from the arena to the airport in Florida, get on the plane and it landed in Montreal, but at the more remote airport. So when I got off in Montreal I had to take an $80 cab ride to the other airport to take a plane to Toronto. I couldn’t make it to the TV production meeting at 10 that morning but I got home, cleaned up and got to the rink by noon and was on air at 2.”
Asked why he loves broadcasting hockey games so much, Jack says it’s more than a love of the action that hockey offers. “It’s the preparation for a game. I’ve always spent hours scouring stats and editorial material before any game. I’m always looking for tidbits of information, something the average person wouldn’t find, to sprinkle throughout the games. I search much deeper than just the number of goals and assists a player might have. I always came to games with more information than I could actually use but I loved to be really ready for the broadcast.”
An obvious question to ask of someone like Jack Miller is why he didn’t try to become a full-time sports broadcaster in a major market, such as Toronto, Vancouver, or Montreal. He clearly has the ability.
“My priorities were, and are, stability and security. I’ve been a very lucky guy. I’ve done all of the major market broadcasts, I’ve travelled abroad with the World Juniors. I couldn’t believe I was broadcasting in Helsinki Finland. It was an incredible experience. I’ve had lots of big-time experience but I could always come back home to Belleville and back home to stability. I had the major market experience and excitement but I didn’t have the major market headaches.
It’s 3:05 a.m. Monday, September 16, 2024 and Jack Miller is seen preparing the morning sports runs for CJBQ/MIX97/ROCK107. (Photo: Quinte News)
While sports, and especially hockey, were the highlights of Jack’s career he was also an important part of the news department over the years, doing newscasts, helping with local stories and always stepping up to host the station’s election-night broadcasts, whether local, provincial, or federal, expertly guiding the local political pundits, updating results and coordinating the appearances of the news team’s reporters out in the field.
Jack is very interested in politics and was on Belleville council for 12 years. In fact, he was studying political science at Queen’s University but could not resist the lure of a radio career before graduation.
“I can’t thank the Morton family enough. They have supported me and allowed me the opportunities that I’ve enjoyed, not only with hockey but through my years on Belleville council and in other pursuits in the community.”
For his part, president of Quinte Broadcasting Company Bill Morton had this to say, “Congratulations on achieving this significant milestone Jack. Your 50 years of dedication, professionalism and remarkable contribution to the community have not gone unnoticed. It has been an honour and a pleasure to have you as part of our family for this long.”
Jack well knows he couldn’t have done all he’s done without the steadfast love and support of his wife CJ, a point he made clear during 2022’s Jack Miller Day in Belleville, the day the press box at CAA Arena was named after him.
“You can’t do it unless you have the support of your family and they encourage you to do these things. And I had all of that. And I can’t tell you how much I not only appreciated it but needed it.”
Jack Miller, still going strong after a stellar 50-year local radio career.
Congratulations!
Jack Miller with grandson Mason in 2015. (Photo: submitted)
