Albert Dudley Jones died September 11, 2018. Two days before, he celebrated his 80th birthday. Albert Jones was a local pioneer in broadcasting when television came to Sault Ste. Marie.
Freshly married to Shirley, Jones started his career in the “telecine” department of the new CBC private Affiliate, CJIC-TV. Telecine dealt with loading films on projectors for broadcasts, as well as making sure slides were not put in upside down – sometimes they were.
It was live television after all.
Jones became a household name in the late 1950’s when he was chosen as the local host for the Mickey Mouse club. That program later became “The Uncle Albert Movie Club” Jones would host live segments from the studio with special guests during the breaks in the afternoon movie. Since then, he was always referred to as “Uncle Albert”
Jones retired after 40 years in broadcasting, winning several awards for his work with his many talents. Jones had a full knowledge of how a television station operates by basically doing every position in television over his long career.
During ONNtv’s program,”Top Story” Monday, Lou-Anne Young talks of Albert Jones and showcases a snippet of a wonderful interview with Art Osborne. The interview is part of an on-going series called , “Oral History” produced for the Sault Public Library, by Wendy Hamilton, Kathy Shunock and Gary Huckerby. The series features sit-down interviews with many characters that have left an lasting impression on Sault Ste. Marie with their works , life and achievements. To watch the full version of the interview and many others GO HERE
