By Mark McMillan, BC Cowboy Heritage Society

Hugh McLennan
Photo credit Mark McMillan

The secret was finally unveiled the evening of March 8th, 2008, during the main Saturday evening feature show at the annual Kamloops Cowboy Festival. We had arranged performance schedule so that Hugh McLennan was one of the entertainers ... just coincidence? Hugh thought so, here's how the presentation went:

There was a slide show to introduce the award and it's recipient and Hugh casually watched the screen over his shoulder . The couple of slides were of the award itself, but were followed by a couple of Hugh as about a four year old. He cocked his head a little when asked later said that he thought someone had put in the wrong slides "I was thinking there was a photo way back when of me that looked like that". When the third slide appeared on the wall Hugh's neck seemed to stretch about four inches - a photo of him, at about age eight, sitting on the horse that was pulling the milk wagon. Photo number four was taken of him wearing his CFAC jacket. It was about now that Hugh realized this slide show was real, and that it was none other than himself that was to be the recipient.

Here's a little about Hugh: As a kid Hugh dreamed of becoming a radio DJ and in 1961 he made that dream come true when he signed on with CFRY in Portage La Prairie, Manitoba, for $132 a month. He married Billie on April 13th, 1963 and they had two sons, Spencer and Rod. The McLennans ended up in Kamloops in 1969 where Hugh worked for CFJC and did some part time cowboying for neighbouring ranches.

In 1992 Hugh spoke with Doug Collins, producer of JC55 radio in Kamloops with the idea of a grass roots, western, tell-it-like-it-is radio show about ranching. Collins liked the idea and the 'Spirit of the West' was born! The first show aired June 17th, 1992. In early 1993 Collins suggested that other stations might also be interested in running the show. Almost instantly, CJDC in Dawson Creek wanted to get on board and today the show can be heard on 18 radio stations, one cable station, and around the world on the Internet on two different web sites.

It wasn't long before Hugh set up his own studio and started building the complete show at home. It's been a big learning curve for Hugh, too, as technology has taken him from the old reel to reel tapes to everything being done on the computer! This new technology also cost a lot of money and the show is not a big money maker. The reason he does it? Because it's his first love ... radio, and spreading the positive word about our ranching industry and keeping our western heritage alive!

Hugh has received numerous awards over the years - awards like Best Agricultural Program from the Canadian Agri-Marketing Association in 1996 and 1999, Western Broadcaster of the Year from the Academy of Western Artists in 2001, and in 2002 he joined the likes of past award winners Ian Tyson, Roy Rogers & Dale Evans, Rex Allen, Gene Autry, and John Wayne in receiving the Founders Award at the National Cowboy Symposium, for contributing significantly to Western Heritage and Cowboy Culture.

Anyone that reads Canadian Cowboy Country magazine will know Hugh from his regular columns "Music of the West" and "Spirit of the West". For those that have been able to watch the Cowboy Country TV series you'll have heard Hugh doing the "Trail Blazers" section.

Hugh's efforts are endless when it comes to helping preserve our western ways and it's these efforts that Hugh McLennan has put in over the years that make him very deserving of the Joe Marten Memorial Award for the Preservation of Cowboy Heritage in BC (see www.bcchs.com). He has now produced well over 800 weekly shows -- without ever missing a week or repeating a show!

Our western heritage is extremely important to Hugh McLennan, and he has been doing an incredible job of preserving it - through many different channels, and especially through his radio show, 'The Spirit of the West Radio Show', which can be heard on the Internet at www.hugh-mclennan.com.

If you know anyone that deserves the Joe Marten Memorial Award for helping to preserve Cowboy Heritage in BC, have a look at the Heritage Award page for details, including the rules and guide lines, a page about Joe Marten, and a printable nomination form.