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The last time David Kirton was preparing for a career change, he was sporting bell bottom jeans and long hair that draped past his eyes.
The longtime broadcaster and host of 650 CKOM and 980 CJME’s Saskatchewan Afternoon is ditching the microphone and recording booth after 43 years for a term in council chambers. Kirton was elected as Ward 3 councillor in Friday evening’s civic election.
“It touched me that people voted for me, but I don’t want to just thank the people that voted for me, I want to thank everyone who voted because those people went through hell and high water to get their vote in this week,” Kirton said.
After a career that saw him work for broadcasters in Rosetown, Moose Jaw, Edmonton and Saskatoon – including the past 20 years at Rawlco Radio, which owns 650 CKOM and 980 CJME – Kirton is ready for the challenge of civic politics, even if it hasn’t totally sunk in yet.
“Totally, crazy,” Kirton said of the change in his job title.
“Let’s face it, I don’t know everything when it comes to city council. I’ve covered it for a lot of years and certainly followed it with a lot of passion all those years, but I haven’t been on the inside. Now I’m going to be on the inside.”
Ward 3 was left vacant when Ann Iwanchuk decided not to seek re-election after nine years on council.
Kirton is the only newcomer to council after all other incumbents staved off challengers across the city. It’s the least turnover on council since 2009 when all incumbent councillors and the mayor were re-elected.
Saying goodbye to a career that spanned more than four decades isn’t going to be easy for Kirton.
“I have a lot of bittersweet feelings about that,” Kirton said. “Obviously, I loved what I was doing if I was hanging in there for 43 years, so I’m definitely going to miss that.”
Results on Friday were delayed to accommodate lineups when polling stations closed. With results coming in before midnight, Kirton was able to celebrate his birthday, also on Friday, with an election win.
“It was pretty amazing on Monday when they decided to hold that election two-point-zero on Friday…’Oh boy, Friday the 13th – wait a minute – that’s my birthday,” Kirton said.
“I just thought, this has got to say something.”
While many people across Saskatoon were frantically refreshing web browsers to get the latest results, Kirton didn’t find out about his lead in the polls and eventual win until much later because he was walking his dog, Phil the Newshound.
“I came back about a half-hour, forty-five minutes later and it was almost all over by then,” he said. “The numbers came cascading in while I was out in the bush with Phil. I was overwhelmed when I saw those numbers.”
Kirton is ready for a nice rest with what’s left in his weekend before he is sworn in on Monday. Kirton entered the race in Ward 3 on nomination day, giving him roughly a month to campaign before last week’s snowfall caused a four-day delay in the election.
“You go hard, hard, hard, hard and then it’s election night. This week has been kind of hard because there was the immediate anticipation about Monday, then we had to drop it, and then the anticipation grows throughout the week again towards Friday.”
With all 77 polls reporting, Kirton’s 1,103 votes topped all seven other candidates vying for the Ward 3 seat. Candidate Nick Sackville finished second in the race with 869 votes.