Holger Petersen

Radio and Television Arts ’70

Published on January 31, 2019

Alumni Award of Distinction ‘04

What Holger Petersen talks about when he talks about music is, essentially, a lifelong love affair.

Following graduation, he began his efforts to elevate roots and blues by hosting CBC’s Saturday Night Blues and CKUA’s Natch’l Blues , the latter a fixture on Canadian radio for more than 40 years.

Petersen also founded Stony Plain Records, promoting new artists and legends, including Steve Earl and Ian Tyson. In the process, the DJ has become a cultural icon himself, inducted as a member into the Order of Canada in 2003.

Today, his devotion to music continues unabated. Picking up from his days as a music journalist for The Nugget, NAIT’s student newspaper, Petersen recently published Talking Music, a book that documents the history of roots and blues through interviews with the musicians themselves.

For Petersen, it’s just another labour of love: “We shouldn’t forget these great people.”

— Scott Messenger