Biography
Pip Wedge
Pip and Lis, fall 2008
Pip was born in London, England on December 2nd 1928. He was educated at the Roan School, Greenwich, and at the South London Emergency Secondary School in Dulwich during WWII, graduating with London matriculation. On leaving, he was for several months a deckhand in the Admiralty Small Craft Pool in Portsmouth, October 1944 - February 1945.
After a year at an advertising agency, 1945-46, Pip served in the Royal Navy as a telegraphist, 1946-48. On demobilisation he worked for two years with the Western Union Telegraph Company. During that time, he met musician/broadcaster/writer Steve Race, who in June 1950 hired Pip to be his business manager/assistant. While with Steve, 1950 - 52, Pip wrote as a freelance for the Musical Express and Jazz Journal and he eventually joined the (now) New Musical Express as a full-time reporter and feature writer in 1952.
In 1953, Pip was offered the job of Publicity Manager for the newly created Philips Records, where he worked with such performers as Noel Coward, Johnnie Ray, Rosemary Clooney, Shani Wallis, Mitch Miller and Petula Clark. In September 1954, he returned to the NME as Assistant Editor.
Early in 1955 he rejoined his old employer, Steve Race, who had become a director of Musical Facilities, the company formed by Hallé Orchestra conductor Sir John Barbirolli when he was appointed musical advisor to Associated-Rediffusion (A-R), the first commercial television station to go on the air in the UK. As General Manager of the new company, Pip set up and ran it for two years, handling all the network's musical requirements, before moving into Light Entertainment production with A-R, followed by stints as Assistant Head of Light Entertainment and Manager of Children's Programs.
In 1956 Pip married Jeanne Powe, who also worked in private television. They were divorced in 1960; there were no children.
Later, as Manager, Quiz Programs, he was involved with A-R's two hit game shows, Double Your Money (with Hughie Green), for which he found contestants and wrote questions, and Take Your Pick (with Michael Miles). In 1962, he left A-R to work for Hughie Green's manager, John Heyman, during which time he worked with several of John's clients, including Richard Burton, Elizabeth Taylor, Trevor Howard and Annie Ross. Early in 1964, Pip was sent to Canada and Australia to produce pilots of local versions of "Double Your Money". The program was sold in Canada, to CTV, sponsored by Seven-Up. It ran on the network in the 1964-1965 broadcast season, and programs were produced in each of seven CTV affiliate stations across the country. His work on the series resulted in the Network offering him the job of Executive Producer in Montreal, which he accepted. He married Take Your Pick hostess Elisabeth Kingdon and emigrated to Canada in August 1965, where he was responsible for several series produced at the CTV Montreal affiliate station CFCF-TV. These included "B.A. Musical Showcase", "It's Your Move", "Words and Music" and "Fractured Phrases". He also acted as Associate Producer for ten episodes of a public affairs series, "W5", that were produced at Expo '67. He was transferred by CTV to become Executive Producer, Toronto, in August 1967. In 1968 he became Promotion Manager, and was instrumental in the Network receiving several Broadcast Promotion Association awards. In 1970, he added the responsibilities of Director of Development, and for three years worked closely with President Murray Chercover on the development and production of several drama and variety series and specials, which were co-produced with U.S. companies for broadcast both on CTV and in the U.S. He also set up CTV's first international sales activity. In May 1973 he was appointed Vice-President, Programming, a position he held until December 1993. He chaired the Network Program Committee, was responsible for acquisition of all U.S, series, and handled all aspects of the integration of the Network program schedule with the stations' locally acquired programs. He served on the Board of the Broadcast Executives' Society in 1979/80, was one of the founding directors of the North American National Broadcasters' Association in 1978, and became its Chairman for a two-year term in 1983. He represented CTV at meetings of the European Broadcasting Union and the World Conference of Broadcasting Unions over many years, served as a juror at the Golden Rose Festival in Montreux, and was its Vice President in 1971. He retired from CTV in June 1994, and subsequently did consultancy work for CTV, the CAB and the CCTA. In 2001 he became engaged in research and writing for the Canadian Communications Foundation's Broadcasting History website, and was named Vice-President of the Foundation in October 2004. He later became a panellist for the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council. He was inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters' Hall of Fame in November 2006. In November 2012, Pip was elected to the Presidency of the Canadian Communications Foundation. In January 2015 he became Executive Director of the Foundation. Pip and Elisabeth live in Toronto, Canada, and have one son, David (b.1970), who is married to Sheilah. They have a son, Kieran, born in July 2008.
