Sitting with him on the upper level of the Rivoli on Queen Street West, it’s hard to believe Jian Ghomeshi was once the awkward, paranoid, David Bowie–wannabe 14-year-old kid he describes in his book 1982.
Moving between appointments with media outlets to promote his first novel, Canada’s cool guy of radio is, well, cool.
Dressed casually in black jeans and a black shirt, Ghomeshi engaged and connected with his interviewers just as easily as when he’s interviewing a subject on his own radio show.
As the well-known host and co-creator of CBC Radio’s Q, it’s hard for most Canadians to picture him as anything other than the soothing voice on the airwaves. Since launching in 2007, Q has grown to air twice daily across the country, as well as becoming a multi-platform entity that has moved into television, satellite radio, YouTube shows and podcasts. This year, it’s also airing on 140 stations in the United States. Oh, and the New York Times also wrote an article this summer on the former Thornhiller.
Given all this hype, it’s hard to wrap one’s head around the image of Ghomeshi as a scrawny, purple eyeliner–wearing teen that wanted nothing more than to fit in. But throughout 1982 he draws quite the picture of his teenaged life for his readers.
The Thornlea Secondary School graduate was born to Iranian parents in London, England, and moved with his family to Canada when he was seven. As a first-generation immigrant in a suburb north of the city, all he wanted to do was blend in. And it was hard.
“Some of it is just sort of the reality of Grade 9 and high school and all of the confusion and pressure and worry and desire and all those things clashing together,” he says. “But the other part of it, for sure, was really feeling like I didn’t fit in, like really feeling like an outsider, being reminded about that in different ways.”
His dad didn’t play hockey, while other dads were out on the ice, he says. He reveals in the book that his house was lit with a red light at night and not the standard white bulbs the other homes shone with. It wasn’t until a neighbour alerted his father to the brothel-red-light connotation that the Ghomeshi household adopted the usual bulb.
Growing up during the Iranian Revolution of 1979 added another layer of yearning to be different for the teen.
“As a way of wanting to escape that and aspire to more or something else, Bowie was my hero and my idol, and I figured that if I could just be Bowie, then I would be accepted and liked and girls would like me,” he says. “So Thornhill all played into that because Thornhill was both who I was and also my greatest obstacle to becoming cool. And all of this was based on this misled notion that if I was cool I wouldn’t feel left out anymore, I wouldn’t feel different, I wouldn’t get picked on or whatever.”
His obstacles became his fuel, and it was that longing to assume Bowie that helped him join and form high school bands, leading to the formation of Moxy Früvous, the Thornhill folk band that toured for more than a decade.
The tumultuous relationship he had with his hometown has played out in different ways throughout his life, but as he got older, he’s paid homage to his old neighbourhood.
“One of the biggest laughs we ever had was to be on the Late Night with Conan O'Brien and have him announce Moxy Früvous, as a name we had just made up as a joke, ‘and their new record Thornhill,’ in front of a national network audience,” he says, laughing.
Music has provided a soundtrack for Ghomeshi throughout his life, and he continues to make music a centerpiece of his show with Friday Live, the weekly thematic show that weaves in music throughout the segment.
“By my early teens my life was music. The soundtrack that accompanied my life was my life, to a certain extent,” he says. “It really defines those years.”
Though he always had an inkling he would become something great, he was convinced at 12 years old that his name and looks would hold him back because he was too different. Looking back from his time as a kid through to now, the made media man has a hard time grasping it all. Even compared to a few years ago, there has been a huge surge in popularity and validity for Q and its host.
“I will say that it wasn’t that long ago, two or three years ago, it was a challenge for us to get, say at TIFF, a lot of big name guests, ’cause they were like, ‘Oh, it’s a radio show,’ ” he says. “And now we don’t have that at all.”
The most rewarding part is that Q is his brainchild. He wanted to produce a radio variety show that also combined long-form journalism. Though the suits told him the genre doesn’t fit today’s ADD-filled world, Ghomeshi had a vision.
After much convincing, he was given a shot. The show hit two target audiences, the first being the older generation of CBC fans, which he maintained to the CBC’s delight. Yet the variety aspect of the show also attracted a younger generation of new listeners. The surge in a new fan base, combined with the musician’s ability to connect with his guests in a way the audience relates to, have made the show untouchable.
“I think it has to do with the fact that I genuinely am interested and curious. I am genuinely interested in people. I am genuinely curious about things I’m asking about on the show,” he says of his success with his subjects.
He strives to be as prepared and confident as possible, when it comes time to air, admitting that a live format adds a difficulty factor.
“It’s a daily show and it’s live. There is no break from the pressure cooker,” he says. “I don’t want to have a crappy show, and there’s no editing, there’s no do-overs … so it’s definitely a grind.”
He attributes his work ethic and determination not just to the desire to fit in as a teenager in Thornhill, but also to his family values.
“I also come from first-generation immigrants whose father I joke about saying, ‘Please work harder,’ ” he says. “But I was brought up to really work hard and to not take things for granted and to never sort of coast and to prove myself to others. So it’s in my DNA.”
His book 1982 provides an inside peek into one year of his life, helping readers to understand the current Ghomeshi through the younger one. For the radio star, writing a creative book was rewarding.
“It’s a document that will live on as a moment in my life. So in that sense, it’s gratifying,” he says. “It feels like I used a lot of my Lego pieces. And instead of building little blocks, it’s like a house and hopefully an entertaining and interesting house.”