Broadcast chief, philanthropist and music entrepreneur recognized for his outstanding contributions to the Canadian music industry

Toronto, ON (November 30, 2011) - The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS) is pleased to announce Gary Slaight as the recipient of the 2012 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award, recognizing individuals who have made an impact in the Canadian music industry. Slaight will be honoured at the 2012 JUNO Gala Dinner & Awards on Saturday, March 31 in Ottawa, ON.

"Gary Slaight's remarkable intuition in business as well as the Canadian music industry is rare. He's not only distinguished himself as a music innovator, he has made it his mandate to proactively support our nation's talented artists through the Slaight Family Foundation and Slaight Music," said Melanie Berry, President & CEO, CARAS/The JUNO Awards. "We are very pleased to recognize Gary Slaight with the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award for his exceptional contributions."

Gary Slaight is the President and Chief Executive Officer of Slaight Communications, and founder of Slaight Music, a company he started to develop and support Canadian talent. As a passionate and tireless advocate of musical talent within Canada, Slaight created the National Songwriting Contest as well as the Canadian Radio Music Awards, now in its 14th year.

Radio has always been part of Slaight's DNA. He began his broadcast career as the promotions manager at Quality Records and WEA Records, before joining the rock station Q107, where he eventually became Vice-President and General Manager. Under his leadership, Q107 became not only one of Toronto's leading radio stations but also one of North America's leading rock stations.

In 2000, Slaight took over the helm as President and CEO of his father Allan Slaight's (recipient of the 2005 Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award) radio empire, Standard Broadcasting Corporation, Canada's largest private radio network. He oversaw Standard's extensive multi-media interests including involvement in Sirius Satellite Radio and Iceberg Internet radio. As a staunch businessman Gary Slaight led the company to record profits and negotiated one of the largest deals in Canadian broadcast history, selling Standard's 52 radio stations to Astral Media for more than $1 billion.

Slaight was inducted into the Canadian Music Industry Hall of Fame in 2005 and was named Broadcast Executive of the Year at the Annual Music Industry Awards by Canadian Music Week in 1992, 1993, 1996 and 1998. In 2004, he received the Award for Outstanding Community Service by an Individual Broadcaster from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters. Gary was also honoured with the Humanitarian Spirit Award at the 2010 Canadian Music and Broadcast Industry Awards.

Community involvement has always been paramount to Gary Slaight and his family. He sits on a variety of charitable boards and oversees the Slaight Family Foundation, which has donated more than $30 million to hospitals, the arts and youth-driven initiatives as well as overseas aid. Among his charitable contributions, the Slaight Family Foundation partnered with MusiCounts, Canada's music education charity associated with CARAS to establish a five-year partnership to annually award six schools in Toronto with $10,000 Band Aid Grants in support of their music programs. Slaight has also been a longtime supporter of the Dixon Hall Music School that provides subsidized music lessons to underserved communities in Toronto, and established the Slaight Family Scholarship for study at Berklee College of Music.

Most recently Gary has pledged $250,000 through Slaight Music to The Unison Benevolent Fund, an assistance and referral program administered for the music industry, by the music industry to provide discreet relief to music industry personnel in times of personal hardship and crisis.

Introduction

This prestigious award ­ named after Walt Grealis in recognition of his extraordinary accomplishments, recognizes individuals who have contributed to the growth and development of the Canadian music industry.

Big or small, Walt was a champion of Canadian artists. He was instrumental in cultivating Canada's music industry as we know it today.

"Walt Grealis dedicated his life to creating the Canadian music explosion...the sound heard 'round the world," said long-time friend and business partner Stan Klees. "His goal was to open the door for all artists and build a star system in Canada."

Affectionately known as 'Canada's Music Man', Grealis was a leading figure in the Canadian recording industry. In the early 1960's when American acts dominated the Canadian radio waves and Canadian talent was turning to the South, Walter recognized the need to promote Canada's own 'star system'. In 1964, Grealis pioneered Canada's first national recording industry trade publication, RPM Magazine. Grealis used the magazine as a vehicle to promote Canadian acts to radio stations and the record business. RPM Magazine also charted a new course for developing the Canadian music industry by connecting key industry figures across the country. RPM Magazine was published for almost 40 years with the last issue in 2000.

Walter Grealis was also a key figure in establishing today's Juno Awards. In 1964, he and business partner Stan Klees created RPM Magazine's Gold Leaf Awards, which started out as simply a readers' poll of favourite artists. By the mid-1970s the awards evolved into a broadcast ceremony that took Canadian talent to the national stage. In 1970, Gold Leaf was substituted for the nickname 'Juno' after the then CRTC chairman Pierre Juneau. The Juno Awards have been a fixture in the Canadian music industry ever since.

More recently, Grealis was made an Officer in the Order of Canada, the second highest honour that can be bestowed on a Canadian. He received the distinction in 1993.

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Following is a complete list of past recipients

WALTER GREALIS O.C (1929 - 2004) - Biography
Walt Grealis was born in Toronto on February 18th, 1929. His father was a fire captain and the family was a mixture of Irish, Spanish and Cree. Walt attended Central Commerce High School in Toronto and dropped out after grade ten to join the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. In 1952, he joined the Toronto City Police.

In 1957, Walt became the Social Host and Sports Director for the St. George Hotel in Bermuda. This was followed by a stint with the O'Keefe and Labatt's breweries. In 1960, Walt entered the record business in a promotions role. Walt began with Apex Records and later moved to London Records.

The move that would shape Walt's influence on the Canadian music industry was his decision to start a small weekly tip sheet (confidential newsletter) designed for record companies and radio stations -- this was RPM Magazine. One of the first things the magazine did was to launch a music poll to pick top Canadian recording artists. The music poll was a precursor to the JUNO Awards as we know them today. They went on to become an award presentation in 1970 and the awards were nicknamed The Juno Awards after then Chairman of the CRTC, Pierre Juneau.

In 1964 when Walt formed RPM Magazine there was very little recording done in Canada and radio stations played very little Canadian content or Cancon. The mandate of the magazine became Cancon and Walt campaigned to bring about Canadian content on radio. Walt's efforts led to the 1970 CRTC ruling that radio stations must incorporate 30% Canadian content into their programming.

RPM Magazine also adopted the MAPL symbol to identify Canadian content on records created by Stan Klees. This was a milestone in developing the Cancon industry and the symbol is still used today to identify Canadian content.

For his efforts in establishing the JUNO Awards, the Canadian charts and the MAPL logo, Walt was named an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1976, the second highest award that can be bestowed on a Canadian. In 1984,The Canadian Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (CARAS), organizers of the JUNO Awards, established the Walt Grealis Special Achievement Award to honour Walt's accomplishments. The annual award is given to an individual who has contributed to the advancement of the Canadian music industry.

In November of 2000, Walt Grealis closed the doors of RPM Magazine after 37 years of weekly publication, including over 7000 charts and countless stories on the music industry in Canada.

On January 20th, 2004 Walt passed away peacefully after secretly fighting lung cancer for three years. He never smoked. He said near the end, "I've lived a good life. What I did for a living, most people would like to do for fun."

Walt Grealis fuelled the beginning of the Canadian music explosion. Affectionately known as Canada's 'Music Man' Walt was indeed a hero to Canadian recording artists.