Dave Boxer, Montreal's 'Cool Daddio on the Raddio,' dies at 89

Dave Boxer, known as the "Cool daddio on the raddio" and the biggest thing on Montreal radio in the 1960s, has died.

He was 89.

Boxer played all the big hits for a new generation on CFCF Radio first, which was the radio arm of CFCF-TV, the former call letters of CTV News Montreal.

Dave Boxer. (CTV News)

Boxer, whose real name was Boxerman, was once billed as the champion of Montreal's English-language evening airways, especially for music lovers.

From 1963 to 1966, he spun discs from 6 to 11 p.m. introducing Montreal area teens to bands from the British invasion when many of them were tucking transistor radios under their pillows to hear The Beatles, Dave Clark Five, or J.B. and The Playboys.

Among them was CJAD 800 Radio's Aaron Rand, who said the news of his passing brought him right back to his childhood. 

"I actually got a little teary-eyed. I was probably 11 or 12 when he was on the air and I was reading some of the stuff that's been posted. There are people saying the same stuff: that I used to fall asleep listening [to him]. He was on until 11:00 every night, which was late to be up as a 12-year-old. So you'd have to sneak your radio really, really low or listen to your transistor or whatever it was and I would fall asleep," Rand recounted in an interview.

Dave Boxer. (CTV News)

Rand said Boxer's show was the show to listen to if you wanted to know who the hot artists were, some of whom he even got to interview very early on in their careers.

He said he was the only "cool" guy on the radio until CFOX came along four or five years later with similar music. Boxer later worked at other radio stations, including CJAD and CKGM and then went on to Vancouver.

He was known for his trusty "Fanortonizer" — a trombone-like whistle he used to announce his contest winners.

His son, Andrew Boxerman, says after he moved to Vancouver he went into the restaurant business and even had a restaurant called DJ's Deli where he personally DJ'd the music. His dad was a man with many interests and talents and a bit of a whirlwind to be around.

"He had a pilot's licence, he had a Ham radio licence. He was a severe intellectual. I don't think many people knew that about him," Andrew Boxerman said. "He was self-taught in almost every subject, and spoke multiple languages. A very, very intelligent man."

Boxer ended every night with a sax solo and would sign off with "Goodnight, bubby," a moment that will remain forever embedded in the memories of his listeners.