A&E: Still the same ol' G(eorge)

About a week ago I had the pleasure of sitting down with CBC's heir-apparent to uber-anchor Peter "the Bridge" Mansbridge, fellow Humberite George Stroumboulopoulos.


In addition to him graciously accomodating an interview after a presumably long day around CBC studios in Toronto, Stroumboulopoulos was an incredibly cool person to talk to. Here's the article from this week's Et Cetera:

THE MAN OF THE HOUR
by James Sturgeon 11/09/2006

One of Humber’s own collected not one, but two trophies at last week’s Gemini awards. George Stroumboulopoulos (radio broadcasting, ’92) took home the Gemini as best host of a general interest and lifestyle series, while his show, CBC’s the Hour, won best overall series in the same category.

Stroumboulopoulos is one of the college’s most well-known graduates, joining the CBC in January 2005 after six years as a popular VJ on Much Music, a national music television station.

The prestigious awards recognize the best in Canadian television programming as voted upon by industry members across the country.

“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Stroumboulopoulos said after a taping of the Hour last week in Toronto, he then conceded “ well, I thought about it sure. When you’re nominated there is a chance you could win but if you don’t, its not ‘oh no you don’t like me.’”

“You know who the Geminis are nice for?” Stroumboulopoulos breezily added, “they’re nice for my mom, they’re nice for my sister. They’re nice for the people who work on the show.”

The show, which began its third season at the beginning of October, has become a cornerstone for the CBC network, averaging 100-thousand viewers nightly.

Yet Stroumboulopoulos was hesitant to pigeon-hole the Hour into the award category it won for. “We do newsy stuff but we’re not a newscast, we’re not a comedy show but we do funny shit, we’re not a music show but we talk music” he said. He then added “we don’t do a lot of lifestyle stuff in the tradition of lifestyle."

"I don’t makeover rooms.”

Director of community relations, Orangeville Campus, Joe Andrews was Stroumboulopoulos’ instructor during his time at the school. “The way that George presents himself is no different than how he is. Raw, in-your-face, yet totally knowledgeable and researched,” Andrews said.

He has “become a spokesperson for our school (and) brings tremendous respect and cache to the (broadcast) program. He has done it his way and we are so proud of him.”
When asked if the latest accolades were beginning to go to his head, Stroumboulopoulos said “it’s never about me. All I’m striving for is to be good company at 11 o’clock.”

“I just want to be good company.”

-JS-