Paul Norton (1951-2026)
Photo: Karin Plato
On Wednesday January 21st, 2026, we lost Paul Norton, a community-radio legend and one of the heroes of Vancouver Cooperative Radio. Paul died suddenly last week at the age of 74. He moved to Vancouver from Toronto in the late 1960’s and started working at COOP Radio in 1976 just after the station opened. In his almost 50 years of service, Paul worked as an on-air host or operator on numerous shows along with serving on the station’s Board of Directors and working in other administrative roles.
His dedication to the station was boundless. Paul most recently hosted the “Three in a Row” Sunday afternoon music shows: One O’Clock Jump, In the Pines and What the Folk. We will all miss Paul’s devotion, sense of humour and gentle spirit. Below, we share tributes and remembrances from some of Paul’s collaborators and colleagues. Rest in peace, dear friend.
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From Peter Thompson, founding member and programmer at Vancouver Cooperative Radio from 1975-1993. Peter moved to the San Francisco Bay Area in 1993 where he has continued his radio career presenting “Bluegrass Signal” on KALW in San Francisco since 1995.
I met Paul Norton 50 years ago, about a year after Co-op Radio commenced broadcasting.
He was interested in helping Jim Burnett and me with “Live On Arrival,” our weekly live broadcast from Rohan’s, a Kitsilano club featuring blues, country, and roots rock bands.
These broadcasts had begun, in part, as a way to provide music programming to our schedule, something of no interest to the station’s founders. But, since we were a community station, various forms of community music were acceptable, and an early hallmark of Co-op Radio was the many live broadcasts.
That ideal of community was embraced by Paul and remained a primary focus for him during the next 50 years. His contributions to not only Co-op Radio but also to the Vancouver Folk Music Festival, the Rogue Folk Society, CiTR, and countless area musicians provide ample evidence of that.
Paul, Jim, and I spent every Friday for the next 5+ years hauling lots of heavy, bulky analog (!) recording equipment down three flights of stairs to Pigeon Park and across town to Rohan’s, where we set up for the broadcast (and recording) before the club opened. We had to wait until after their 2 am closing to break it down and return it to the station (back up those three flights of stairs) before decompressing at the Bar Centrale until around 4 am.
It was demanding work, but it was fun, and, once the Rohan’s broadcasts ended, Paul was always up for going anywhere to do live broadcast/recording, whether it was the Christmas blues shows at the Commodore or Doug & the Slugs’ New Year’s Eve gigs or a session at a country music dive bar.
Photo: Emily Morgan
In addition to exciting live radio, recordings from these events provided an extensive tape library that was used by many Co-op Radio programs. The raw tapes had to be edited and annotated, and Paul’s place on Salt Spring Island provided an excellent work space.
The analog editing equipment was lighter and less cumbersome than the recording gear, but Paul, Jim, and I still needed to ferry over Sony TC-105 tape decks that had editing blocks mounted on them, plus headphones, razor blades, grease pencils, splicing tape, leader tape, and empty 7” reels. We’d work individually with headphones, but, when one of us would hear something vaguely interesting or funny, we’d tell the others and all stopped to listen via the 105’s speakers. Much merriment ensued, then we went back to our individual projects.
Paul Norton, Peter Thompson, Rob McGregor, Jim Burnett and Gwendolyn Reischman
The photo of Paul, Jim, and me with Rob McGregor and Gwendolyn Reischman features a carving we had commissioned as a thank you to Paul for allowing us to use his place, which we’d dubbed “Radio Ranch.” The five of us posed because we each produced/hosted one Co-op Radio show each month on, you guessed it, “Radio Ranch.”
Paul did his best to keep the tape library viable and drew on it for a number of projects. Our shared commitment to local music and musicians extended for Paul into everything from planning and running benefits to helping with web sites and other publicity to featuring regional musicians on all of the radio programs he produced and hosted to attending as many music events as he could — and often photographing them. His enthusiasm for the music and musicians remained a guiding force, and he was well known as a guy who would do whatever needed to be done.
In addition to regularly producing/hosting “What the Folk,” the programs that became “In the Pines,” the programs that became “One O’Clock Jump,” and filling in often on Ron Simmons’s’ “Blues In the Dark” and my own “Vancouver Extract,” Paul contributed mightily to Co-op Radio through the years. He launched our country music programming by making nice with representatives of record labels (remember them?), who had to be persuaded to send recordings to Canada. He talked kd lang into doing a benefit for the station after seeing her Vancouver debut at the Railway Club and realizing she was gonna be huge. He took on station administrative and organizational responsibilities in several areas. And he always came up with fun (and effective) ideas for on-air fundraising shows.
Paul was also a serious devotee of movies and knew more about Hitchcock than anyone. He opened one of the first video rental stores in the area in the late ‘70s, around the time I got tapped to teach a film history course for the Media program at Capilano College. Paul made everything in his store available to our students at a significant discount and found numerous old films for me to screen before teaching. I wish he’d been called upon to curate film festivals; his private screenings were Big Fun.
Paul Norton was an important part of — and tireless contributor to — the Lower Mainland’s cultural expressions and will be greatly missed. He is survived by his longtime partner, Sue Malcolm, who is also a force in the music and life of the Vancouver area, plus many colleagues and good friends.
From Nou Dadoun, long-time host of the A Trane Radio Program. Shared with permission from the Vancouver Folk Music Festival newsletter.
We were deeply saddened this week to learn of the sudden passing of a long-time friend of the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Paul Norton was heavily involved in many facets of the Vancouver music community, perhaps most notably in non-commercial radio, where he spent nearly 50 years sharing his love and knowledge of music with us. He hosted numerous shows on CFRO Vancouver Cooperative Radio, most recently One O’Clock Jump (jazz), In the Pines (bluegrass), and What the Folk (folk and world music) as well as his blues show, Code Blue, on UBC’s CiTR-FM.
Paul was also involved in many of the city’s non-profit music organizations, including the Vancouver Folk Music Festival (at one time working for its erstwhile records affiliate Festival Distribution), Coastal Jazz, The Pacific Bluegrass and Old-Time Music Society, and more. Over the years, Paul worked in management, graphic, and website design for a number of Vancouver-based artists. He recently retired from his job as publicist for the Rogue Folk Club.
The remembrances and tributes have been pouring in on Facebook from friends and artists whose work Paul supported over the years.
Our condolences go out to Sue – his partner in love and music – and to his family and many friends. He will be sorely missed.
From Ron Simmonds, long-time host of Blues in the Dark
When I found out about Paul’s passing, I was 2/3 of the way into my upcoming show – This remembrance will be from my perspective as I had other dealings with Paul not necessarily related to the station – We both joined the same year – It’s 50 years for me Jan 2026 – Paul joined later in 1976. We were both involved in the Operators Committee when it was down basically to us two & one other. I was also with the Programming Committee and I bought it to their attention that we the operators could not continue. It was then decided that all shows be responsible for getting on & off air without station operators giving us a little relief.
Paul helped out immensely as others did when I was posted to first Victoria & then Lethbridge off & on for just over a year and then again when I battled cancer just after I retired – Paul filled in on many of those shows as did Jim Burnett. Another time I was in Kamloops for Xmas and we tried to travel on the Monday – got as far as Merritt when they closed the Coquihalla to Hope because of a multiple car crash – I phoned Paul with little notice to ask. He stepped up again.
I was at the station many Friday nights working and I got to see Peter Thompson, Paul & Jim Burnett hauling mike stands, tape decks & cables up the 3 flights at Pigeon Park after a night recording at Rohan’s. Paul also worked in other roles at the station including sitting on the Board of Directors. He will be missed by many. Rest in Peace, Paul Norton.
From Danny Casavant – local musician and long-term friend of Paul’s
Paul Norton & Sue Malcolm – Amos Garrett Dinner October 23, 2013 – Photo by Ken Stewart
For Paul & Sue by Danny Casavant
I played this as I was beginning to process the loss we have been dealt with the sudden passing from this life of Paul Norton. It is one take and a spontaneous piece coming from my heart as I join you in grieving Paul. It isn’t without flaws but that is the reality of all of our lives.
Paul gave so much of himself in his lifetime. He was passionate about the music he loved and so very supportive of those in the Vancouver music community. He was a friend to me through many changes in the 40+ years I knew him.
My heart goes out now to his life partner Sue Malcolm as she begins her grieving and continues her life without Paul.
RIP Paul Norton
From Rob McGregor, host of One O’Clock Jump and In the Pines
Kathleen Nisbet, Jim Burnett, Paul Norton & Rob McGregor, hosts of “In the Pines”
Like everyone else, I can’t quite believe that Paul is gone. I keep thinking that he will send me an email about putting together a special-themed radio show, to organize phone outs for expiring CFRO members, to share some new music, or to strategize about running a fundraising event. Paul was everywhere in the COOP Radio world that I entered back in the early 1980’s and now he has left us and that is just so very sad. So, rest in peace old friend. You had an amazing impact on the music and radio communities of Vancouver that will echo for years to come.
The last thing I heard from Paul was an email encouraging me to organize a meeting of what we often call the Sunday music hosts. That was two days before he passed away. Lately, we program the shows One O’Clock Jump (jazz & blues), In the Pines (bluegrass and oldtime) and What the Folk (folk and world music) every Sunday afternoon often with the same host on three shows from 1pm to 5:30pm. Some of us do two of the shows, some three and some only one but the team has been Paul along with his partner Sue Malcolm, Jim Burnett, Dinny Knowles, Kathleen Nisbet, Jack Schuller, Lucas Schuller and myself for the last number of years.
That Sunday music show ecosystem has worked well for decades with each of us assigned to particular weeks and shows and there we have functioned more or less separately and produced some great radio. The thing is Paul always wanted more than that. He was the driving force behind a couple of meetings for the In the Pines hosts that occurred as we emerged from the COVID pandemic. We needed to talk and Paul somehow knew that. Paul also wanted to involve the hosts from all three shows in a meeting this year as some of our hosts had retired. Sadly, he won’t be able to attend, but the remaining hosts are meeting coming up on February 8th where we will discuss our future without Paul.
It didn’t take long after meeting Paul to realize how passionate he was about music – country, blues, jazz, bluegrass, folk and everything in between. He loved it all and worked relentlessly to promote and support the music community by running events, managing bands, and most importantly by producing amazing radio. I believe that his early experiences at COOP Radio – getting a radio station off the ground – informed his amazing sense of collaboration. I can easily imagine Paul hauling sound equipment up the three flights of stairs at our Carrall Street location with Peter Thompson and Jim Burnett at 2am after recording music at Rohan’s in Kitsilano. That sense of shared work was central to his dedication to COOP Radio.
His collaborative nature may be why he always sought more interaction, more teamwork and more community in his work at COOP Radio. So, of course, Paul would be the one trying to get the Sunday hosts together after a global pandemic or as some of our hosts retired. He truly wanted us all to work together and make something special happen.
Paul succeeded in countless ways to support musicians and their gigs, to produce remarkable radio and generally to make the world a better place. So, farewell dear friend. We will miss your energy, your passion and your voice on the airwaves. We will carry on somehow without you and hope to carry some your spirit into our work. Love and hugs to Paul’s partner, Sue Malcolm as she meets the challenge of life without her dear Paul.
From Dinny Knowles Host One O’clock Jump and What the Folk
From Dinny Knowles Host One O’clock Jump and What the Folk:
It was a shock to hear that Paul passed away so suddenly, we were just emailing about a radio group meeting the day before. I met Paul in the late 80s at Coop Radio where he was a programmer and working in admin and doing anything else that needed doing. In those days at Pigeon Park, it was all OTRs and no computers, so many changes over the years from records to cassettes, CDs, mp3s, YouTube and still evolving, it didn’t phase him. He was always willing to lend a helping hand, a capable problem solver and knew what to do.
Music was such a big part of his life, and he helped many people and the Vancouver music community so much, always promoting local singers and bands, he knew everybody. Always interested in life in general, he loved all kinds of music, especially the blues, and had an encyclopedic knowledge of music.
He promoted the idea of community in everything he did, involved in so many music groups and organizations from Festival Records to music festivals and Rogue Folk Club most recently, and all our Sunday Coop radio music shows One O’clock Jump, In the Pines and What the Folk. I can still see him at the group meetings, glass of whiskey in hand, telling us stories and he had many. He always enjoyed the music and the shows and what people were doing. He will be greatly missed. Big condolences to Sue Malcolm, his partner in life and music. He was a good guy, R.I.P. Paul.
From Linda Kidder, local musician and long-term friend of Paul
I met Paul Norton through my friend Dan Smith, way back in the early 80s. We became fast friends and he took on the role of a big brother to me. Paul became part of our family and through the years attended all of our celebrations and the sadness that life brings as well. Paul babysat for me on occasion as I was a single mom. One night I came home from a gig and Paul had installed a shower in my bathtub along with a shower ring and curtain with a beautiful duck motif, as a surprise.
Paul also got me a Canada Council grant and I was able to record my first album because of him. And let’s not forget the many surprise birthday parties over the years!! He was a great friend, a wonderful supporter of the music scene and provided unlimited support for us musicians. He was a tireless worker, and he loved what he did, right up until he peacefully flew away. We’ve had a lifetime of love and laughs and I still can’t believe you’re gone, my sweet friend.
Paul, you had a life well lived and the best exit I know AND you left a whole pack of people behind who love you. Well done ❤
From Jim Burnett, founding member of CFRO and host of One O’Clock Jump, In the Pines and What the Folk
It’s hard to know what to say when a friend and colleague who you’ve worked closely with for 50 years passes away unexpectedly. Paul was a vital part of the life of Co-op Radio since its very early days, and his passing leaves a huge void.
Memories flood back to the beginning. In the company of Paul, Peter Thompson, Rose Hilton, Blair Thompson and a host of other radio junkies, we tried to return to the days of radio by, for, and of the people. Broadcasting from an old bank building high above 1970s Pigeon Park, we went to music joints big and small, promoting live local music in a way that hadn’t been done on radio for a generation for more.
Paul was at the centre of this magnificent effort. And, as has already been amply related, he went from strength to strength both as a producer/programmer, station staff member, and latterly as an independent music industry mover and shaker.
In latter days, Paul hosted decades of original music programming and he and I collaborated on special fundraising shows during Co-op Radio’s semi-annual “Airlifts”. With mashups like “Lefty (Frizell) & Hank (Williams)”, “Cold & Hot”, “Rich & Poor”, not to mention the perennial “Platters That Matter”, we had a gas and gladly raised money for the station.
My thoughts go out to all his family and friends and especially to his partner, Sue Malcolm.
You are deeply missed Paul. Rest in peace, Good Buddy…