Background and career
John Allan Slaight, (July 19, 1931 – September 19, 2021) was a Canadian rock and roll radio pioneer, media mogul, and philanthropist. He began his career as an amateur magician before moving to radio. He was the founder of Slaight Communications and the president and CEO of Standard Broadcasting Corporation Limited, which was Canada's largest privately owned multimedia company at the time. He was also an active philanthropist and founder of the Slaight Family Foundation. On September 19, 2021, he died in his home in Toronto, Ontario, at the age of 90.
Slaight was born on July 19, 1931 in Galt (now Cambridge), Ontario, Canada to Florence Eileen Wright and John Edgar (Jack) Slaight. His father was a newspaperman who worked for the Galt Evening Reporter (now Cambridge Reporter). His family, including his younger siblings Brian and Ann, moved to Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan when their father bought the Moose Jaw Times-Herald in 1945. Jack Slaight was also the eventual co-owner of Moose Jaw radio station CHAB-AM, one of Canada's first radio stations.
A magician since his youth, Slaight's interest in magic started at age eight, after seeing Johnny Giordmaine's performance at the Toyland section of Eaton's department store in Toronto. Slaight began touring Western Canada as a mind reader under the stage name “Will Powers”, a career influenced by his interest in sleight-of-hand and magical inventions. He had performed a large-scale magic show under the "Slaight & Co" banner. His traveling magic show would often cause him to spend 14 hours away from home, visiting small towns to perform for $10. Slaight's show may have been inspired from his early days in the 1940s, performing for his grandfather's staff at a local bank in Galt for $2, or his regular performances at conventions and at the Rotary Club in Moose Jaw. Slaight toyed with the idea of performing on a permanent basis, and indicated that he would have done so had it been profitable. While working in radio and broadcasting, magic continued to be a part of Slaight's life. In an interview with The Globe and Mail in 2005, Slaight showcased his collection of thousands of magic trick books. Slaight is the author of several magic titles including Stewart James in Print: The First Fifty Years (1989), The James File (3 Book Set) (2000), and Essential Stewart James (2007). Slaight co-hosted an annual magicians conference, 31 Faces North, with performing arts organization Magicana (Artistic Director David Ben) every summer. It is an annual invitation-only event inspired by and meant to resurrect the spirit of collaboration and camaraderie seen in the once-held magician's event (The Ibidem Event) hosted by P. Howard Lyons. Slaight's magic tricks (the Magnetic Miraskill, OTWONE Prediction and others) can be found in most magic magazines from the past 50 years such as Ibidem, Genii – The Conjurors' Magazine, and Magic – The Independent Magazine for Magicians. In recognition of his involvement in magic, Magicana presented Slaight with Spins and Needles: The Magic of Allan Slaight, a hardcover book featuring 62 of his magic tricks.
Slaight began his broadcasting career in Moose Jaw in 1948, at age 17, as an on-air news reporter and announcer for his father's station CHAB. His late-night jazz program, Spins and Needles, marked the beginning of his five-decade career in the radio industry. "I had never been inside a radio station before. But after one short visit to CHAB, I realized radio was what I wanted to do with my life," Slaight said in a 2002 interview. Slaight arrived at the University of Saskatchewan in autumn 1949, to uphold a bargain he made with his father. In exchange for working one year at CHAB, Slaight was required to attend university. While at the University of Saskatchewan, Slaight worked as a columnist (A Sap's Fables) and jazz reviewer for the college newspaper, The Sheaf. He dropped out of his studies at the University of Saskatchewan after his first year and balanced his burgeoning broadcasting career with his traveling magic show.
In 1950, Slaight and his wife Ada moved to Edmonton, Alberta. Unable to find a job in radio, he sold shoes at the Eaton's Department store before finally joining radio station CFRN that same year as a news reporter, before leaving to join CJCA in 1952.
In 1954 Slaight joined Edmonton-based radio station CHED-AM as the station's News Director. Two years later in 1956, he was appointed Merchandising Director.
Sources
Net-worth figure: Celebrity Net Worth (October 2026), in USD. Biography and career facts: the person's Wikipedia article and linked reporting. Snapshot date for all StarWorth figures: 28 October 2026.
