I had no idea what I was about to get into when I started reading Red Robinson: The Last Deejay. I had never heard of Robinson, and I didn’t know that Canadian radio had such a fabulous past; all this, and I was raised in the very same city that Robinson made famous.
The book is a biography of Robinson’s life and work as a radio broadcaster but reads like a who’s who of celebrities who have crossed paths with Robinson. There are tons of rare photos and rarely heard stories of the shenanigans—which would be unheard of in today’s celebrity world—that Robinson and his celebrity friends got up to together.
The book progresses through various stages of Robinson’s life, recounting interesting anecdotes and letting the reader see, page by page, how one man changed the face of Canadian radio and put Vancouver on the media landscape of the time. It’s incredibly interesting to read about what went on behind the music scenes in Vancouver and Victoria.
However, after a while, every chapter seems to just blend together and be more of the same. Despite being a short book at just over 200 pages, it was hard to not find an excuse to put it down and do something else.
Red Robinson: The Last Deejay is best suited for readers who are very interested in reading what famous people said to a trusted friend when the cameras were not in their face and finding out obscure facts about musicians and Canadian music history.
Still, after finishing the book, I’m glad that I read it. I would recommend the book to anyone who is a fan of Robinson or who enjoys reading biographies.