It figures also that his media empire would include cable TV, radio stations, TV stations and magazines, including Canadian Business. Ted is Canadian business personified.

In 1961 Ted graduated from law school. In 1962 he launched a small Toronto FM radio station. . Back then FM radio was Canada’s best-kept secret. It was easier to find teeth in a hen’s mouth than it was to find people with FM receivers.

Ted force-fed FM penetration by selling FM radios at prices far below his cost, similar to what Roy Thomson [later Lord Thomson of Fleet] did in the early ’30s. Roy Thomson owned a newspaper and a retail store in North Bay. He launched an unlicensed AM radio station to boost the sale of radios from his store. It worked for Roy Thomson and years later it worked for Ted Rogers.

I joined Ted in 1967 .You don’t go to work for Ted Rogers, you join him; you buy into his ideas, you fasten your seatbelt and hang on. Way back in 1967, his budding empire consisted of only four Ontario radio stations, several pockets of cable TV around Toronto, plus a brain and body bursting with creative ideas and boundless energy. Today his empire is mind-boggling and still growing.

When I asked Ted recently if he felt there is still opportunity for young people to achieve as he has, he replied, "Dick, there are always lots of opportunities if you persevere and aren’t afraid to take chances. But the important thing is that you have to work very hard and take risks."