By Francis Quamina Farrier 

THE recent death of veteran radio producer Lawrence Blackmore in Canada is being mourned by his relatives and friends and many others in Guyana and the diaspora who knew him. Lawrence Blackmore was a radio producer par excellence at the Broadcast to Schools Unit for many years. He also worked in other areas of radio production in Guyana for years before he migrated to Canada. His work in Guyana as a radio producer was extremely professional and had a positive impact on thousands of students across the nation.

Adults, too, found much pleasure in listening to the radio productions of Lawrence Blackmore, especially the music chosen and played by the talented producer.  In fact, Blackmore introduced many international recording artistes to the Guyanese radio listeners and even to his fellow co-workers. Veteran Broadcaster Sir Ron Sanders spoke of being introduced to the music of Lou Rawles and other jazz and contemporary recording musicians. The music of many other international musicians, such as the German band leader James Last, was first played on the Guyana Broadcasting Service (GBS) Action Radio by Blackmore. It was not surprising to learn that then Prime Minister Forbes Burnham was among the ardent listeners of Blackmore’s musical selections on radio.

Good radio and television are usually achieved with dedicated and talented producers, who know how to select and broadcast material that really grasp the public’s attention and make radio programming interesting, entertaining, and informative. Blackmore was also known to have been a good co-worker and was respected by both his superiors and subordinates. “I have lost a good friend of 56 years,” said veteran Broadcaster and diplomat Sir Ron Sanders who worked with Blackmore at the radio station and appreciated his work. Blackmore was very knowledgeable about a wide variety of music, and his radio productions were extremely popular with a broad cross-section of the Guyanese people. His work was admired even by the late Mr Burnham, who actually spoke of his pleasure in listening to the musical selections of Blackmore.

Although Blackmore’s job was to “switch on the lights”, so to speak, he made listeners happy whenever they were at the other end of the radio sounds that he produced via his selection of recorded music. As a technical producer working with Celest Dolphin on the Broadcast to Schools Unit, Blackmore directly served thousands of young Guyanese in their education. Many of them are now living and working in countries worldwide.