Editing Barbara Frum

{{short description|Canadian journalist (1937–1992)}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox presenter
| name       = Barbara Frum
|honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|country=CAN|OC|size=100%}}
| image      = barbarafrum.jpg
| imagesize  = 
| caption    = 
| birth_name  = Barbara Rosberg
| birth_date  = {{birth date|1937|9|8}}
| birth_place = [[Niagara Falls, New York]], U.S.
| death_date  = {{death date and age|1992|3|26|1937|9|8}} 
| death_place = [[Toronto|Toronto, Ontario]], Canada
| resting_place       = [[York Cemetery, Toronto]]
| show       = ''[[As It Happens]]''
| station    = 
| network    = [[CBC Radio]]
| timeslot   = 
| show2      = ''[[The Journal (Canadian TV series)|The Journal]]''
| station2   = 
| network2   = [[CBC Television]]
| timeslot2  = 
| style      = 
| country    = Canada
| prevshow   = 
| parents    = 
| spouse     = {{marriage|[[Murray Frum]]|1957}}
| children   = {{ubl|[[David Frum]]|[[Linda Frum]]|Matthew Frum}}
| website    = 
}}
'''Barbara Frum''' (née '''Rosberg'''; September 8, 1937 &ndash; March 26, 1992), [[Order of Canada|OC]] was an American-born Canadian radio and television journalist, acclaimed for her interviews for the [[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]].

==Personal life==
Barbara Frum was born Barbara Rosberg in [[Niagara Falls, New York]], the eldest of three children of Harold Rosberg and Florence Hirschowitz Rosberg. Her family is Jewish. Frum's father, who was born in [[Kielce]], Poland, immigrated to Canada as a child with his parents in 1913, and was the proprietor of Rosberg's Department Store in [[Niagara Falls, Ontario]]. Frum's mother was born in New York City, and moved to Canada in 1935, the year she got married. Frum grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Attending Stamford Collegiate high school, where she was a classmate of [[Bob McAdorey]], Barbara served on the student council. She was also a member of Theta Kappa Sigma, Alpha chapter, her high school sorority. She studied history at the [[University of Toronto]], where she graduated with a [[Bachelor of Arts|BA]] in 1959. In 1957, she married Toronto dentist [[Murray Frum]], who later became a real-estate developer.<ref name="jwa.org" /> They had two children and adopted a third, an Indigenous child, Matthew.<ref name="fact.on.ca">{{cite web | url=http://www.fact.on.ca/newpaper/gm990223.htm | title=The battle over native adoption| work=[[The Globe and Mail]] | date=February 23, 1999 | access-date=September 29, 2011 | author=Philip, Margaret}}</ref> Her daughter, [[Linda Frum]], was a Canadian senator and a member of the [[Canada-Israel Committee]], and her son, [[David Frum]] became a political journalist and, after he moved to the United States, was a speechwriter for [[George W. Bush]].<ref name="jwa.org" />

==Career==
After her graduation, Frum undertook volunteer work in the community and began writing for the ''[[Toronto Star]]'' as a freelancer, specializing in social-issues stories.<ref name="jwa.org" /> In 1971, she joined [[CBC Radio One|CBC Radio]] as one of the first hosts of ''[[As It Happens]]'', a newsmagazine program which used the telephone to conduct live interviews with newsmakers and other witnesses to news events, as well as quirky human-interest stories. Frum's skills as a tough, incisive and well-informed interviewer<ref name="TV Museum">{{cite web | url=http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/frumbarbara/frumbarbara.htm | title=Frum, Barbara | publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications | access-date=April 24, 2008 | author=Lamontagne, Manon| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20080423103505/http://www.museum.tv/archives/etv/F/htmlF/frumbarbara/frumbarbara.htm| archive-date= 23 April 2008 | url-status= live}}</ref> quickly made the program one of CBC Radio's most popular and enduring programs (it still airs today, in virtually the same format), and she continued to host until 1981.

Between October 1974 and July 1975, she hosted her own [[Barbara Frum (TV series)|self-titled]] [[talk show]], first locally broadcast in Toronto until May 1975 before the program moved to the national CBC network for seven shows in June and July 1975.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/programming/television/barbara-frum | title=Barbara Frum | publisher=Canadian Communications Foundation | date=April 2002 | access-date=December 28, 2023 | author=Corcelli, John | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20190412103816/http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/programming/television/barbara-frum | archivedate=April 12, 2019}}</ref> The shows featured both interviews with personalities and special segments devoted to isolated topics.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.tvarchive.ca/database/16321/barbara_frum/details/ | title=Barbara Frum (Series) (1974-1975) | publisher=TVarchive | access-date=December 28, 2023 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120207103130/http://www.tvarchive.ca/database/16321/barbara_frum/details/ | archivedate=February 7, 2012}}</ref>

In 1981, CBC Television created ''[[The Journal (Canadian TV series)|The Journal]]'', a newsmagazine series which would follow ''[[The National (CBC)|The National]]'' each night at 10:22&nbsp;p.m., and Frum and [[Mary Lou Finlay]] were hired as the show's hosts. On January 11, 1982, ''The Journal'' debuted as a showcase for features which delved more deeply into the day's news than the traditional newscast format of ''The National''.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.museum.tv/eotv/nationalthe.htm | title=The National and the Journal | publisher=The Museum of Broadcast Communications (MBC) | access-date=December 28, 2023 | author=Allor, Martin | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20170930035633/http://www.museum.tv/eotv/nationalthe.htm | archivedate=September 30, 2017}}</ref>

The show included field reports, short documentaries, public forums, debates, business, sports, and arts and science news, but Frum's interviews were the show's centrepiece, and made it one of Canadian television's most popular programs. After the first year, Frum became the sole host of the program, although Finlay continued to be associated with the program as a reporter and [[documentary film|documentarian]].  Frum interviewed many notable people, including British Prime Minister [[Margaret Thatcher]]<ref>{{cite video |url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/margaret-thatcher-britains-iron-lady |title=Margaret Thatcher: Britain's Iron Lady |publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] |work=CBC Digital Archives |first=Barbara |last=Frum |date=September 27, 1983 |access-date=December 28, 2023 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150709113500/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/margaret-thatcher-britains-iron-lady |archivedate=July 9, 2015}}</ref> and [[Nelson Mandela]].<ref>{{cite video | url=http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/nelson-mandela-interviewed-by-barbara-frum-in-canada | title=Nelson Mandela interviewed by Barbara Frum in Canada | publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] | work=CBC Digital Archives | first=Barbara | last=Frum | date=February 14, 1990 | access-date=December 28, 2023 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104125923/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/entry/nelson-mandela-interviewed-by-barbara-frum-in-canada |archivedate=November 4, 2016 }}</ref>

She angered many when, on December 7, 1989, on ''The Journal'',<ref>{{cite journal | url=http://www.saskndp.com/cw/64.5/reframingviolencewomen.html | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070208161214/http://www.saskndp.com/cw/64.5/reframingviolencewomen.html | archive-date=2007-02-08 | title=Reframing violence against women |author1=Ruddy, Jenn  |author2=Curry, Elizabeth  |name-list-style=amp | journal=The Commonwealth |date=December 2004 | volume= 64 | issue= 5}}</ref> she refused to acknowledge that the [[École Polytechnique massacre]], by a killer who proclaimed as he shot and stabbed women, "I hate feminists!" was an attack on women and feminism, saying: "Why do we diminish it by suggesting that it was an act against just one group?"

Frum was frequently parodied on ''[[CODCO]]'' by [[Greg Malone (actor)|Greg Malone]], whose portrayal involved the recurring catchphrase "But are you bitter?" Frum and Malone (in his Frum drag) also presented a [[Gemini Awards|Gemini Award]] together.

Frum was also the inspiration for the [[muppet]] "Barbara Plum", host of "The Notebook", on ''[[Canadian Sesame Street]]'' (later reworked as ''[[Sesame Park]]''). In the episode "The Headline Hunter!" of the Canadian [[animated series]] ''[[The Raccoons]]'', Frum herself portrayed a reporter called "Barbara LaFrum", who interviewed [[Cyril Sneer]] after his pigs told her of his unsavoury business practices.

==Awards and honours==
Frum received four [[ACTRA|Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists]] (ACTRA) Awards,<ref name="FamousWomen"/> won the National Press Club of Canada Award for Outstanding Contribution to Canadian Journalism in 1975, and was named to the [[Order of Canada]] in 1979.<ref name='TV Museum'/> A library in Toronto, called the Barbara Frum Public Library, is dedicated to her. In late 2022 Ms. Frum was inducted into the Canada Walk of Fame as the most influential woman in Canadian Broadcasting.

==Death and legacy==
[[File:Graves of Barbara Frum (1937–1992) and Murray Frum (1931–2013) at York Cemetery, Toronto 1.jpg|thumb|right|220px|Graves of Barbara and Murray Frum at York Cemetery]]
[[File:Barbara Frum Atrium 2.JPG|thumb|Barbara Frum Atrium, CBC, Toronto]]

Frum died of chronic [[leukemia]] on March 26, 1992. Her illness had been first diagnosed in 1974, but only a small circle of family and friends knew about it.<ref name="cbclifeandtimes">{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/frum.html | title=The Life and Times of Barbara Frum | publisher=[[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]] | date=September 17, 2002 | access-date=December 28, 2023 | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20021228121442/http://www.cbc.ca/lifeandtimes/frum.html | archivedate=December 28, 2002}}</ref> On the evening of her death, virtually the entire broadcasts of both ''The National'' and ''The Journal'' were tributes to her and retrospectives of her career.<ref>https://www.cbc.ca/player/play/video/1.3332812</ref> Among the many tributes was an editorial cartoon depicting her at the gates of Heaven with a reporter's notebook, insisting on interviewing God. Several other editorial cartoons simply depicted ''The Journal''{{'s}} set with an empty anchor chair, or Frum likened to a [[CBC News|CBC]] symbol.<ref>https://www.deviantart.com/jdayton/art/Tribute-to-the-late-Barbara-Frum-532803447</ref>

She was originally buried at [[Pardes Shalom Cemetery]] and was later reinterred at [[York Cemetery, Toronto]], where she is buried with her husband.

Following Frum's death, ''The National'' and ''The Journal'' were merged into a new program called ''[[CBC Prime Time News|Prime Time News]]''.

The atrium in the CBC's [[Canadian Broadcasting Centre]] in Toronto, which opened in 1993, is named "Barbara Frum Atrium" in her honour.<ref>{{cite news | url=http://www.cbc.ca/facilities/bfa.html | title=Barbara Frum Atrium | publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Centre | access-date=September 29, 2011}}</ref>

The [[Toronto Public Library]] branch located at 20 Covington Rd was named in her honour<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.torontopubliclibrary.ca/detail.jsp?R=LIB05 | title=Barbara Frum Public Library | publisher=Toronto Public Library | access-date=May 29, 2017}}</ref> and opened shortly after her death. The building of the library was donated by Murray Frum as part of a redevelopment project,<ref name="NYT">{{cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/06/magazine/06wwln-Q4-t.html | title=Right Hand Man | work=The New York Times | date=January 6, 2008 | access-date=September 29, 2011 | author=Solomon, Deborah}}</ref> Frum was in the foreground on the Canadian stamp honouring CBC in 1999,<ref name="FamousWomen">{{cite web | url=http://www.famouscanadianwomen.com/stamps/frum.htm | title=Famous Canadian Women on Stamps | publisher=Famous Canadian Women.com | access-date=September 29, 2011}}</ref> a television biography, ''The Life and Times of Barbara Frum'', was broadcast on CBC in 2002,<ref name="cbclifeandtimes"/> and a day lily has been named the "Barbara Frum Day Lily" in recognition of her enthusiasm for gardening.<ref name="jwa.org">{{cite encyclopedia | url=http://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/frum-barbara | title=Barbara Frum | publisher=Jewish Women's Archive | encyclopedia=Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia | date=March 1, 2009 | access-date=September 29, 2011 | author=Brown, Michael}}</ref>

Frum's daughter [[Linda Frum|Linda]], a conservative author and journalist, wrote a best-selling biography of her mother in 1996. She was appointed to the [[Senate of Canada]] as a [[Conservative Party of Canada|Conservative]] by [[Prime Minister of Canada|Prime Minister]] [[Stephen Harper]] in August 2009.<ref>{{cite news | url=https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/harper-gets-even/article1267744/ | title=Harper Gets Even | work=The Globe and Mail | date=August 28, 2009 | access-date=December 28, 2023 | author=Leblanc, Daniel | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090902023544/https://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/harper-gets-even/article1267744/ | archivedate=September 2, 2009}}</ref> Frum's son, [[David Frum|David]], is a political journalist and author of several books. He collaborated with others in coining the phrase "[[Axis of Evil]]" while a speechwriter for [[George W. Bush]].<ref name="NYT"/> Frum's adopted son Matthew, a [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] child whom the Frums adopted in the 1960s during the [[Sixties Scoop]], had problems as a teenager, and ultimately reclaimed his aboriginal roots and renewed contact with his birth parents.<ref name="fact.on.ca"/>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{IMDb name|0296682|Barbara Frum}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20211129193822/http://www.cbc.ca/archives/topic/barbara-frum-pioneering-broadcaster CBC Digital Archives - Barbara Frum: Pioneering Broadcaster]
* [http://www.gg.ca/honour.aspx?id=576&t=12&ln=Frum Order of Canada Citation]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110706165147/http://avtrust.ca/masterworks/2005/en_radio_2.htm AV Preservation Trust - Barbara Frum: As It Happens (1971-1981)]
* [http://www.nflibrary.ca/nfplindex/search.asp?search=1&db=5&idx=ti&query=barbara+frum Images from the Historic Niagara Digital Collections at Niagara Falls Ont. Public Library]
* [http://www.ontariojewisharchives.org/exhibits/osjc/communities/niagarafalls/earlycommunity/employmentandbusiness.html Ontario's Small Jewish Communities, Niagara Falls]
* [https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/article/barbara-frum Frum] at [[The Canadian Encyclopedia]]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Frum, Barbara}}
[[Category:1937 births]]
[[Category:1992 deaths]]
[[Category:American emigrants to Canada]]
[[Category:American people of Polish-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:American radio journalists]]
[[Category:American talk radio hosts]]
[[Category:Canadian women radio hosts]]
[[Category:American television news anchors]]
[[Category:Burials at York Cemetery, Toronto]]
[[Category:Canadian people of American-Jewish descent]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Polish-Jewish descent]]<!--national origin-->
[[Category:Canadian talk radio hosts]]
[[Category:Canadian television news anchors]]
[[Category:Canadian women television journalists]]
[[Category:CBC Radio hosts]]
[[Category:CBC Television people]]
[[Category:Canadian Screen Award winning journalists]]
[[Category:Deaths from chronic leukemia]]
[[Category:Deaths from leukemia in Canada]]
[[Category:Jewish Canadian journalists]]
[[Category:Naturalized citizens of Canada]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of Canada]]
[[Category:People from Niagara Falls, New York]]
[[Category:People from Niagara Falls, Ontario]]
[[Category:University of Toronto alumni]]
[[Category:Canadian women radio journalists]]
[[Category:Journalists from New York (state)]]
[[Category:Journalists from Ontario]]
[[Category:Canadian radio news anchors]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century American journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century American women journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian women journalists]]
[[Category:20th-century American Jews]]
[[Category:20th-century Canadian Jews]]