The Man of The Hour- as published in the Humber EtCetera November 9, 2006

By Valerie Maloney

If you watch CBC’s The Hour with George Stroumboulopoulos you may be aware that he had his beloved hockey equipment stolen early last week. What you may not be aware of is that the popular host and Humber radio broadcast graduate picked up two Gemini awards the previous week. Suffice to say, the equipment can be replaced.

The two awards recognize Stroumboulopoulos as best host of a general/human interest of lifestyle series and The Hour, a nightly current events show, for best talk series. After a taping last week at the CBC Stroumboulopoulos said “I didn’t think I was going to win. 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’.” Stroumboulopoulos breezily added “you know who the Geminis are nice for? 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 network, averaging 100-thousand viewers nightly.

Yet Stroumboulopoulos admits the show faced criticism initially. “I think early on people criticized us saying we’re dumbing it (the news) down. They didn’t get that what we were doing was explaining. We sort of opened up the gates, we’re letting everybody into the party.”

Stroumboulopoulos was hesitant to classify 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.”

“We’re kind of everything.”

Humber’s Joe Andrews was Stroumboulopoulos’ instructor during his time at the school. The current director of community relations, Orangeville Campus, remembers the former MuchMusic VJ as being an enthusiastic student. “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!”

Despite the early criticism the host and the show have become great successes in their own right. Yet Stroumboulopoulos insists it hasn’t gone to his head. “Even though I get the Gemini for best host it’s about ‘look man (the production crew) worked hard’” gesturing towards the set, adding “it’s never about me.” As for how he views the show, “all I’m striving for is to be good company at 11 o’clock, just want to be good company.”