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Legendary radio announcer Martin Streek, most famous for his work on CFNY/Edge 102 over several decades, before being unceremoniously fired from the station in May, is dead. He committed suicide on Monday.
The news was first reported late Monday night by Mike Boon, based on comments left on Boon's article about Streek's firing. Boon's article about Streek's death (which has since been updated) was met with no small amount of confusion and skepticism earlier tonight, but Streek's death has since been confirmed on Twitter by people close to Streek (like Kneale Mann), as well as to Torontoist by several current and former Edge employees who knew him.
David Marsden, CFNY's founder, wrote on The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum that Streek "put on his wings earlier today, to the shock of most everyone....Good night Martin. We don't know what forced you to take this step but we do wish you a wonderful and peaceful rest." According to Marsden, Streek's final Facebook status update, set on Monday, was:
So...I guess that's it...thanks everyone...I'm sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though)... Let the stories begin.
In our rush to verify whether the initial report of Streek's death was a mistake or not, we made a mistake of our own, and originally noted Streek's age as just shy of fifty-seven. The biography on Edge's site that Streek had written saying as much, however, was a joke—the bio, and date of birth, were that of the Clash's Joe Strummer. Streek, we're told, always held his age close to his chest anyway. Torontoist sincerely regrets the error.
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Shit... I used to regularly listen to his live-to-air broadcasts. The guy had a great on-air presence.
I was just talking about him to my girlfriend last night when we tuned into the Edge for the Sunday night retro broadcast...
A real loss for radio.
I guess I'll be going to Velvet Underground in tribute this weekend. It's mildly pathetic to say, but retro nights at Whiskey Saigon did a lot to define who I am nowadays. (My peers always hated my music.)
What a sad day for radio. Martin Streek will always be remembered for his passion to music, and that sexy voice! RIP...We'll hear your story some day.
Damn.... I guess he really did go full tilt till 2 am.
There's already a Facebook group about his death.
This article was initially published at 12:45 a.m. last night, after we confirmed Streek's death; we updated it a few times in the hours after—including appending a correction about Streek's age (and, yep, linking to the Facebook group that popped up late last night).
It's sad it took Martin's death for me to hear about Barry Taylor getting fired.
What the fuck is going on at that station?
It's macabre, but, anyone know the details of his suicide?
I'm surprised this didn't happen back when, one summer, CFNY were playing Madona and other crap. Thank god that didn't take hold!
I wonder if he did it in some musical way, and especially, what song he listened to at the end? Me, it would be Radiohead's Street Spirit.
One other update to this post—we've received permission from photographer Jason Richard to use his shot of Streek from last September with this article; I've replaced the original small photo that accompanied this article, of Streek's Facebook profile picture, with Richard's shot. There are a few dozen other photos of Streek now in the Facebook group created in his memory, as well.
Thank-you for uploading a new photo - the new one is a much better pic to remember him by.
Passing by the Edge street studio on Yonge this afternoon, I wasn't sure whether to expect Jane Creba-style flowers and dedications. (There weren't any.)