Broadcaster and philanthropist Valerie Pringle gives inspiring talk for Women in Niagara Council

One of broadcaster/philanthropist Valerie Pringle’s greatest treasures is a ‘shrill filter’, a small device that attaches to a microphone with a dial that turns the volume from normal to excessive, and finally, to “Valerie” level.

It’s not a real gadget, just something her friend and mentor Andy Barrie had made for Pringle as a joke, because, at the beginning of her career, she was told that her voice was too shrill, and that she wouldn’t have a future in broadcasting.

On February 29, Pringle talked (in a very un-shrill-like voice) about her experiences in the media, her family, her philanthropic work, and mental health.

The event was hosted by the Women in Niagara Council of the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce (GNCC) at 124 on Queen’s The Gate House. Before she began, she was presented with the GNCC 2023 Women in Business Lifetime Achievement Award recognizing her achievements in media and philanthropy.

Pringle, born in Windsor, Ontario, grew up in Toronto and attended Bishop Strachan School, an all girls boarding school. She credits her experiences there as having had an impact on her in terms of leadership. 

She attended Ryerson (now Toronto Metropolitan University) and started her journalism career with Toronto radio station CFRB as a student news reporter. “They gave me a taste of being on air and telling my stories myself and writing, which was really kind of thrilling,” said Pringle. 

Pringle earned a nightly interview show on the radio before hosting a noon hour current affairs show called Midday, which she left in 1992 to co-host Canada AM for the next nine years.

Her talents and influence extended far beyond the airwaves and television screens. She co-hosted the 1994 Lillehammer Olympics, the 1993 federal election and the 1995 Quebec referendum.

More recently she hosted a travel show called Valerie Pringle Has Left The Building from 2002-2006, as well as documentary specials for Discovery Channel, and Antiques RoadShow Canada.

During her early years in broadcasting, Pringle said that there weren’t that many women in the business, and fewer reading the news. “Women who were just ahead of me, maybe a decade ahead or even five years ahead, had a much, much harder time.” She only half-joked that they would be asked to report on summer reading lists while wearing a bikini. A “dynamo,” the woman who created CBC News World, was first assigned a receptionist job at CHUM Radio, “because that's what happened,” said Pringle.

There was a moment when Pringle thought she wasn’t cut out for broadcasting because a program director had told her as much. “Wake up and smell the coffee, he was wrong and I had a 50 year career,” she said.

Pringle defined success with three points: Family, interviewing, and working for not-for-profits.

She will be celebrating her 50th wedding anniversary this year, with husband, Andy Pringle. “That's a freaking miracle, that takes a huge amount of work and patience, but worth it,” she said. They have three children and five grandchildren, all settled in the GTA.

While modest and self-effacing at times, Pringle admitted that she is a good interviewer. “It's a skill that I have and I'm really happy to do it. I'm old school and you earn your stripes by showing up day after day and doing the work.”

Her not-for-profit work gives Pringle enormous satisfaction while championing causes important to her. She still gets excited when she talks about her work with the Trans Canada Trail, a system of waterways, paths and roads that extend from the Pacific to the Atlantic oceans.

It was while reading a magazine that Pringle became intrigued when she saw a map with a “little line across Canada.” She became a member of the board of directors for the trail and “never left for 20 years. I chaired the board and then they created a foundation. We had raised $83 million to connect the trail for Canada 150 and it was really one of the great projects of my life, as equally as satisfying, if not more, than any broadcasting I've done.”

Pringle’s term as chair of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto (CAMH) ends in June. She is also the official spokesperson for the Canadian Foundation for AIDs Research.

She admits that being a woman in her line of work has been challenging at times, but allows that her education and the colour of her skin has made it easier than for some other women.

Pringle said she often thought that news rooms’ executives should hire another female co-host “because (of) our skill set, our empathy, our ability to interview, and our breadth of knowledge.”

“Not that I didn't have fabulous co-hosts who were men, but I always thought there were great jobs for women in broadcasting.” She said that women’s strength and an ability to cope with a huge amount going on is suitable for a journalism/broadcasting career.

Pringle moved to NOTL around 15 years ago, after numerous visits to the town to attend Shaw Festival. She and her husband spent the first several years restoring their historic home in the old town, and presently enjoy walking their dogs through the commons, the waterfront or the river. They are still currently engaged in working in Toronto.

Pringle isn’t finished working, though. At 70, she just finished taping season five of Canada Files, a series of half-hour interviews with prominent Canadians such as Justice Rosalie Abella, filmmaker James Cameron, activist Rick Hanson, singer Michael Bublé, and athlete Hayley Wickenheiser.

Even though the landscape looks bleak for up and coming journalists, said Pringle, there were many times over her career that cuts were made and she thought “I'm not riding the wave of prosperity here.”

However, smart, persistent people have to just keep pushing and going and believing in themselves, she said. “No one's no one's doing it for you.” Times and technology change, she said, noting, for example, the proliferation of podcasts.

“Everyone can have a podcast. You set up a mic in your home and find a message and find a skill and find a talent. People are always looking for young, energetic, great people.”

“People need to hear the stories, and maybe now it's a more distributed model (of news dissemination). There are more opportunities in smaller markets, and you need to be self-starting, which you know all about,” she said, addressing the group of nearly 70 community members and businesswomen from the GNCC.