By Seth DuChene
with photography by Bernard Clark
If you’ve lived in the Kingston area for any length of time, chances are you’ve heard Garry McColman or you’ve heard of him — but probably both. The long-time local disc jockey, entrepreneur and prolific community organizer has specialized in putting smiles on listeners’ faces for decades. However, it’s his work behind the scenes, through a range of volunteer initiatives, that may ultimately stand as Garry’s most lasting contribution.
Splitting his time between his home in Harrowsmith and a cottage at Rideau Acres, Garry — better known as “Big G” — still hosts the morning show alongside Wayne “Matty” Mathews on New Country 98.9 FM. “I get up every morning at 4:30 a.m., I go into the radio station and have a cup of coffee, laugh and have some fun for three hours, and then I come home,” he says.
It’s a routine built on consistency, humour and connection — three traits that have defined a broadcasting career stretching more than six decades. Garry has become part of the fabric of the Kingston community, both on-air and off. Yet his story begins elsewhere. He grew up in Toronto, in what he describes as a middle-class household, the middle child between two sisters. . . .
