We heard some sad news on the weekend about the passing of the legendary Alex J. Walling.
AJ was a friend to many of us and left his mark on local radio and TV in the Maritimes.
While working on-air at 96/CHNS in the 1970’s he met his wife Kathleen who became his life partner.
When AJ was at CHNS he was assigned to go to Russia to cover the 1972 Summit Series, that he would proudly tell you about.
He was a huge music lover and was a walking encyclopedia for music charts.
Alex J was a character to say the least. I have many fond memories of chatting with him at the Halifax Mooseheads games and Media press conferences, when he would wear his Halifax Citadels Ron Tugnutt hockey jersey.
I was lucky to work with AJ in The Pink Palace days on Agricola Street in Halifax when he would fill in for Rick Howe on the CJCH Hotline Show. We had a few chin wags about sports in the hallways.
AJ did a lot in 77 years. In 1988, he became the first sports anchor at the independent Halifax and Saint John-based MITV television station (now part of Global). He had a unique delivery that made him stand out from the rest.
That same year, he founded the Atlantic Media Institute in Halifax, which he sold in 2000. He taught many students who are now in the Halifax Media.
From 1994 to 2000 he also had a one-hour sports talk show called A.J., Harv & Company on Eastlink television. He left the show upon his retirement; however, the retirement was short lived.
AJ was also the Maritime correspondent for TSN. Check out AJ in action on MITV below:
In Liverpool, he founded Queens County Community Radio, which first went on air in 2008.
CTV’s Steve Murphy had this to say about AJ.
The last time I saw AJ was at the Irving in Tantallon, when I heard from the other side of the pumps: “Hey Mr. Mooseheads, how’s the team lookin’ this year?”
I can still hear that iconic voice of AJ’s as I write this.
Rest easy my friend and say Hi to Harv Stewart for me.
-Ian
(Credits: Alex J. Walling on Facebook.)