After over 40 years on the air in Sarnia-Lambton, a familiar voice is stepping down from behind the mic.
Blackburn Radio News Manager Dave Dentinger is officially retiring on Friday, May 14.
A graduate of Radio, Television and Journalism Arts at Lambton College, Dentinger started his journalism career with CHOK in 1978.
The Walkerton native, and father of two, took over as News Manager at Blackburn Radio in April 2013 when his mentor Larry Gordon retired.
Dentinger joined Sue Storr on CHOK Friday morning to reflect on some of the major moments in local news he reported on, including the Ipperwash crisis, the 2010 blizzard that crippled traffic on Highway 402 and most recently leading his team through a pandemic.
"If you were to bookend my career it's from Petrosar to pandemic," said Dentinger. "One of the first major things I covered in June of 1978 was the official opening of Petrosar, which is now NOVA Corunna. What's interesting about that too is that 40 years later, the ethylene cracker there is undergoing a major expansion and they're building a new polyethylene plant."
Dentinger said when he made his retirement plans, he thought the pandemic would be over, saying he's never reported on anything like it.
"The only thing I thought even came close was 9-11," he said. "But, the impact on Sarnia-Lambton when the Blue Water Bridge suddenly shut down and we had trucks and cars backed up to almost London and they're putting port-a-jons and delivering water out there, it was a very immediate stark impact. And of course the chemical plants were on alert, but it was really relatively short-lived, we're talking three or four days and we were back to normal. But the pandemic, COVID, I've never seen anything in my 40 years that has dominated the news at all levels, local, regional, national and international for 13 months now and counting. I've never seen anything like it."
Dentinger said he implores people to continue to support local media and local journalism.
"I don't just mean Blackburn Radio and BlackburnNews.com but there are talented journalists in this community at The Observer, the Sarnia Journal at The Independent and we collectively are this community's voice in the midst of all the national and international rhetoric," he said. "And it's been a tough row to hoe for media companies like all companies during this pandemic. We're ad dependent and when you have multiple lockdowns and businesses being closed, it's a tough row to hoe."
Dentinger was recently recognized for his over 40 years of broadcasting and multimedia journalism by Sarnia Mayor Mike Bradley, as one of 16 individuals named to the 2020 honour list. Bradley called Dentinger a "voice of comfort in challenging times."
For the full interview on Behind the Mic, visit www.chok.com