Heather Hiscox on Her Owen Sound Roots and How Local Radio Shaped a Lifetime in Journalism

In an exclusive interview, CBC anchor Heather Hiscox shares memories of her early days at CFOS in Owen Sound and reflects on the importance of community storytelling.

Heather Hiscox photo courtesy of CBC News.

Longtime CBC News host Heather Hiscox is bringing her farewell tour home. On Tuesday, October 28, Owen Sound will be the final stop on her Morning Live Across Canada series before her last appearance on the CBC News Network next month.

The four-hour national broadcast of CBC Morning Live will air live from 6 to 10 a.m. outside Owen Sound City Hall, and the public is invited to attend.

It’s a homecoming decades in the making for Hiscox, who began her broadcasting career in 1982 at CFOS AM, the same local station that ended its AM broadcasts earlier this year after 85 years on air, moving its programming to FM.

For Hiscox, returning to the city where her career began is deeply personal. “It was never in doubt,” she said. “We needed to go back to where the journalistic journey began — and here we are.”

Ahead of her Owen Sound broadcast, The Owen Sound Current had the opportunity to speak with Hiscox about her early days in local radio, the state of community journalism, and what comes next after more than four decades on air.

This feature is the first in a special series exploring Hiscox’s career, her connection to Owen Sound, and her reflections on the future of independent Canadian media and community storytelling.

Before CFOS, there was the Sun Times.

Hiscox’s first published work appeared in the Owen Sound Sun Times, where she wrote a regular column about student life at West Hill Secondary School while still in her teens.

“I started when I was in Grade 10,” she recalled. “Every Friday, I’d have a little piece in the Sun Times about what was happening at school; our teams, our teachers, our awards. I loved writing it.”

That early experience, she said, sparked her curiosity about how local stories bring people together. “It made me proud to share what was going on in our community,” Hiscox said. “Looking back, it probably planted the seed for everything that came later.”

Before she became one of Canada’s most trusted journalists, that 16-year-old Owen Sound high school student won the Miss Teen Canada. CFOS sponsored the regional and national pageants, and when Hiscox won, the station offered her a summer job.

“I was very academic and planning on law school,” she recalled, laughing. “But suddenly this summer job comes along, and I was trained to be a radio announcer for $4.50 an hour at CFOS.”

That summer opportunity became the start of a lifelong career in broadcasting. “It was an apprenticeship in every sense,” Hiscox said. “I never went to radio school, but I learned how to spin records, do funeral announcements, marine forecasts — everything. I loved it.”

Getting her start at a community station was foundational, Hiscox said. “Everyone there was focused on what mattered to people in Owen Sound — from local fundraisers to weather reports for boaters on the bay. You felt connected to your listeners in a very real way, and that sense of service stayed with me my entire career.”

After CFOS, she earned a master’s degree in journalism at Western University, following an undergraduate degree at the University of Toronto, where she had originally planned to pursue law.

But Hiscox credits those early days at CFOS with providing her not only with technical training but also with a sense of purpose. “I learned how much a broadcaster could mean to a town like ours, and how being on air came with the privilege and responsibility to do good,” she explained.

“It was a family,” she added. “Everyone there, from the newsroom to the library, cared about what we were doing.”

She said her mentors at the station — including Rick Moss, her first boss, and longtime broadcaster Ross Kentner — helped shape her understanding of journalism’s role in civic life.

“They [Moss and Kentner] understood that being on air was a privilege, not a platform for ego. They believed in showing up — for the listeners, for local causes, for the community. That shaped how I’ve approached every job since,” Hiscox noted. “They showed me that local radio isn’t just about news or music. It’s about connection.”

“The Ties That Bind” and the Future of Local Media

That sense of connection, Hiscox believes, is what’s being lost as local media outlets close or consolidate.

“When I was starting out, Owen Sound had a strong local paper, and CFOS was thriving,” she said. “Those newsrooms told the stories that tied the community together: who won the high school football game, what was being built downtown, who got married, who passed away. Those are the things that make people feel like they belong.”

She emphasized that the challenge isn’t about commitment or quality, but capacity. “Across the country, as ownership has consolidated and local staff have been reduced, we’re losing those everyday stories that hold communities together,” Hiscox said.

She worries about what happens when those voices disappear.

“A lack of local news weakens communities,” she said. “It makes us more divided, less informed, less connected. That’s why we have to find ways to keep telling those stories.”

Hiscox says she’s encouraged by new efforts to revive local journalism, both through CBC’s new community “pop-up” bureaus and independent outlets like The Owen Sound Current.

“CBC is trying to invest in local storytelling again, and that’s important,” she said. “What you’re doing with The Current — that’s exactly what communities need. People want to see themselves and their neighbours reflected in the news.”

Full Circle

“It feels poetic,” Hiscox said of the CFOS radio station’s recent transition from AM to FM radio aligning with her retirement tour. “The place where I started is marking a new chapter, just as I’m closing one. CFOS will always mean the beginning for me.”

After 43 years in broadcasting, including 20 as the national morning host, Hiscox is stepping away from the anchor desk but not from storytelling. She hopes to continue mentoring young journalists and helping them build careers rooted in community.

“I’ve been so lucky to do this work,” she said. “What I learned at CFOS stayed with me — that radio, and journalism in general, is about connection. Even when I was anchoring from Toronto, I always thought about talking to one listener, one person, just like we did in Owen Sound.”

This story is the first in a special Owen Sound Current series on Heather Hiscox’s career and legacy. In the coming days, we’ll share more from our conversation, including her thoughts on mentorship, the future of Canadian journalism, and what comes next for her career and personal life.

Celebrate Heather’s Homecoming

Owen Sound residents can join Heather Hiscox and the CBC Morning Live team on Tuesday, October 28, from 6 to 10 a.m. outside Owen Sound City Hall. The outdoor broadcast will feature live interviews with local guests, music from the Owen Sound District Secondary School Jazz Band, and coverage from Bayshore Broadcasting.

Attendees are encouraged to bring a chair, dress warmly, and take part in what promises to be a celebration of both a remarkable career and the community where it began.

CBC’s Heather Hiscox Returns Home to Owen Sound for Farewell Broadcast