George Stroumboulopoulos

Infobox actor
name = George Stroumboulopoulos


imagesize =
caption = Stroumboulopoulos at the 2007 Toronto International Film Festival
birthdate = birth date and age|1972|8|16
location = Malton, Ontario, Canada
birthname = George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos
othername = Strombo
geminiawards = Best Host or Interviewer in a General/Human Interest or Talk Program or Series
2006 "The Hour"
2007 "The Hour"
Best Talk Series
2007 "The Hour"

George Mark Paul Stroumboulopoulos (born August 16, 1972 in Malton, Ontario) is a Canadian television and radio personality, known for his presence on MuchMusic, Canada's primary music television broadcaster, and as the host of "The Hour", a late-night talk show about the world's current events.

Family

He was born in Malton, Ontario to a Greek father from Egypt and a Ukrainian mother. [ [http://www.ourpublicairwaves.ca/index.php?page=961 Our Public Airwaves - This Hour has a nose ring ] ] He was raised primarily by his mother, and a close-knit extended family.cite news
title=The Case for George
publisher=Ryerson Review of Journalism
date=Summer 2007
url=http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2007/summer/696/]

Career

Stroumboulopoulos studied radio broadcasting at Humber College. He was a board operator at Toronto sports radio station The Fan 590 when he first emerged as an on-air personality, doing segments with host Jim Richards and Spider Jones. Stroumboulopoulos became a full program host at the Fan in his own right (overnight weekend show entitled "Game", with Bob Mackowycz Jr. and Jeff Marek), then a disc jockey at the 102.1 The Edge modern rock radio in Toronto, starting in 1997.

MuchMusic

His move to television as a VJ and entertainment journalist at MuchMusic and CityTV Toronto made him a national celebrity. (A memorable 25-minute interview with U2's Bono ended with Bono stating “George, I am a fan.”cite news
title=2003 Much Music interview with Bono - YouTube video
publisher=Much Music
date=2003
url=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QIlFMX6uxa8] .

Greatest Canadian

In 2004, he was featured on CBC television's "The Greatest Canadian" series as the advocate for Tommy Douglas. His case proved persuasive; Douglas (whose profile was shown first) started the contest in first place and remained there.

The Hour

In December 2004, Stroumboulopoulos left MuchMusic to host a new live prime time news program on CBC Newsworld: "The Hour". He co-hosted a Sunday night talk radio show, "The Strombo Show" on CFRB in Toronto and CJAD in Montreal. The show moved to the Corus network and the format changed to one of mainly music. "The Strombo Show" now broadcasts from 102.1 The Edge's Toronto studio and on other radio stations in the Corus Entertainment network, including CFOX-FM in Vancouver, CJKR-FM in Winnipeg, CFPL-FM in London and CJXY-FM in Hamilton. In July 2006, Stroumboulopoulos signed on to host the American version of "", aired on ABC and CBC cite news
title=Stroumboulopoulos to host music search show The One
publisher=CBC Arts
date=2006-07-10
url=http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2006/07/10/george-hosts.html] . However, due to abysmal ratings, the show was cancelled after just two weekscite news
title= Music reality show 'The One' cancelled by ABC a week after its debut
first=
last=
publisher=Wikinews
date=2006-07-28
url=http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Music_reality_show_%27The_One%27_cancelled_by_ABC_a_week_after_its_debut] .Stroumboulopoulos stated that he was only taking on the show as a "summer job", and did not plan to stop hosting "The Hour". He has also stated that he will not host a proposed Canadian version of that show if it comes to fruition.Fact|date=February 2007

Stroumboulopoulos was nominated for the 2007 Gemini Viewers Choice Award. He ended up losing the award to Marilyn Denis, the host of "Cityline". [http://www.geminiawards.ca/gemini21/vca/index.cfm] Stroumboulopoulos did however win the Gemini for Best Host or Interviewer in a General/Human Interest or Talk Program or Series. [http://www.geminiawards.ca/gemini21/noms.cfm?catid=9520&gemnig=2] . He was awarded an honorary degree—Doctor of Laws, "honoris causa"—from the University of Calgary on November 13, 2007. [ [http://www.ucalgary.ca/news/october2007/convocation-advisory Convocation: Nov. 13/07 | University of Calgary ] ]

Stroumboulopoulos has also been involved with numerous charitable initiatives, such as hosting the 'HipHop4Africa' Mandela Children's Fund Canada and CapAids February 2006 Toronto benefit which featured Canadian musicians Melanie Durrant, Imaan Faith, and Gurpreet Chana among others. Deejay Ra, who interviewed Stroumboulopoulos for the event's DVD, also did a live reading at the sold-out event as part of his 'Hip-Hop Literacy' program, promoting Mandela and Tupac books to the students in attendance.

References

External links

* [http://www.thegrindmagazine.com/profile_archives/fall_04/george.htm Grind magazine - interview and profile]
* [http://www.strombo.com Strombo.com, his personal website]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/ CBC News: The Hour]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/index.jsp?personality=Stroumboulopoulos%2C+George&program=CBC+News%3A+The+Hour CBC personality profile]
*"Maclean's" – [http://www.macleans.ca/culture/media/article.jsp?content=20061225_138619_138619 Interview]
* [http://gauntlet.ucalgary.ca/story/4873 Gauntlet Interview]
* [http://www.cbc.ca/story/arts/national/2004/11/12/Arts/Stroumboulopoulos041112.html CBC Article]
* [http://www.torontolife.com/features/rebel-rebel/ Toronto Life Article]
* [http://thetyee.ca/Entertainment/2005/01/21/ImNotTargetingAnybody/ Tyee Interview]
* [http://www.rrj.ca/online/573/ Ryerson Review of Journalism feature]
* [http://etcetera.humber.ca/20061109/main.html "The man of the Hour," Humber Et Cetera 11-09-2006]
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpcUhVmc0GU 'HipHop4Africa' YouTube Interview]
* [http://www.myspace.com/georgestroumboulopoulos George Stroumboulopoulos's Myspace]
* [http://www.rrj.ca/issue/2007/summer/696/ "The Case for George" by Joe Rayment. "Ryerson Review of Journalism", Summer 2007]

Related video

* Video [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/thehour_player.html?20030213-Mansbridge_invu interview] with Peter Mansbridge from 2003. (No longer linked-to in the Video Archive, but still accessible.)
* [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/thehour_player.html?Promo-About_theshow Recap of "The Hour": Season One] , including highlights of clips in the shows [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/archive/index.html video archive] .
* [http://www.cbc.ca/thehour/video.php?id=1063 Recap of "The Hour": Season Two] , features highlights from the second season of the show.