After more than 50 years of a career that makes you dream so rich it is, René Homier-Roy has just won an award that highlights the excellence of his work on the radio. Meeting with a host who has no intention of hanging up his microphone.
Posted on June 26
It’s no surprise that René Homier-Roy won the bronze medal for “Best On-Air Personality” at the New York Radio Festival Awards last spring. With his modulated voice at the perfect rate, his colorful language and his always intelligent remarks, this man is like a fish in water in a radio studio.
What is surprising is that this is his first “real” award in nearly 60 years of media career. “I’ve already won the vice-president’s medal, a prize awarded internally at Radio-Canada, but it’s like a prize for perseverance,” he says with a laugh. I have never received a Gemini for The gang of six Where Come see the actors. When I learned that I was receiving this award from New York, I wondered if it was a geriatric gift…”
That’s René-Homier Roy’s typical humor, a tongue-in-cheek humor that always makes him “very entertaining”, to use an expression he likes.
A radio guy
“I liked the magazine [il a fondé les magazines Ticket et Nous]I loved doing TV, but with It’s much better in the morning, I realized that I was a radio guy, a team guy, he continues. This is my happiest professional period. »
I confirm, having had the privilege of doing radio with him “at dawn” for two years, that he was a benevolent and generous presenter with his collaborators. We felt like we were driving a Porsche when we sat at the microphone opposite him.
But all good things come to an end and René Homier-Roy put an end to 15 years of daily life in the wake of the death of his spouse, director Pierre Morin.
Aged 72 at the time, the idea of retirement never crossed his mind. He immediately launched two new shows: René’s librarywho has since left the air, and Culture Cluba weekly cultural magazine that will enter its 10e season next August.
In the days following the announcement of his departure from the morning show, while he was walking towards his car in the Radio-Canada parking lot, the host heard a comment he never forgot: “Ah those old guys! It says it goes away, then it sticks…”
“I am not particularly sensitive to what people think of me, underlines René Homier-Roy, but this time, it troubled me very much, this perception that people could have of me… I took it very personal, to the point that I talked to my shrink about it for at least two sessions [rires]. »
Fortunately, that didn’t stop him from continuing, which he plans to do for a few more years. And the recent wave of departures on the radio has not changed his mind.
The passing life
René Homier-Roy is seated in front of me on his magnificent Habitat 67 terrace with a breathtaking view of Old Montreal in the background, and I remember that this pleasant and affable man once terrorized the cultural milieu which feared his pithy criticisms. As a teenager, I never missed At first glance, the film critic program in which he crossed swords with Chantal Jolis. It was the festival of the murderous phrase and of bad faith.
To The gang of six also, his comments both witty and murderous hit the mark. Could this type of show featuring seasoned critics who never put on white gloves still exist today?
“Me, I claim so,” replies René Homier-Roy without hesitation. In my opinion, it is lacking. »
It was passion The gang of six. When we hated, we hated hard. But when we loved, we also loved very much!
Rene Homier-Roy
“We knew it would make waves. But it was very rare that I questioned the talent or the integrity of people. I’m a professional viewer, I get paid for it. Sometimes it’s a thankless role, but it’s really fun to know that because you liked something, that you can be convincing when talking about it, there are people who will discover the pleasure that you, you got. I find it great! »
Curious 24 hours a day
René Homier-Roy confides to me that we thought for a moment of replacing the show The more the merrier, the more we read of Marie-Louise Arsenault through a series of daily themed programs. One day the theatre, one day music… We had thought of him for literature. “I thought that at my age, it was too much,” he says. “It’s a lot of work to immerse yourself each time in the work of the authors”, adds the host who says he is perfectly happy at the controls of Culture Club, a show that looks like him and that he designed with director Sylvie Lavoie, who left him after nine seasons to work on another project. “She’s a funny, intelligent girl who knows how to create very strong links with her teams. She’ll miss me. »
In Culture Club, René conducts interviews, delivers two reviews a week (usually a film and a book) and animates the club of young and old columnists with whom he discusses their most recent cultural discoveries. Far from playing the card of the octogenarian overwhelmed by new trends, René Homier-Roy always remains bright and relevant. “I would be lying if I said that I listen to rap before going to bed, he specifies with a smirk, but I am curious about everything. I like to learn all the time. »
Like many people who work in the media, his life fits perfectly with his work and his work is diluted in his life. Evidenced by the piles of books on the floor of his living room, on the table in his dining room or on the shelves of the superb library that occupies the entire wall of his office.
“When I retire, if such a thing ever happens, I will continue to watch movies and read books. The only difference is that I won’t be forced to give my opinion and that would bother me, because I’m used to it and I like it…”
Questionnaire without filter
Coffee and me: It’s an almost orphan relationship. I only drink one coffee a day, in the morning, and that settles the case for the day. I took speeds during my beautiful years of madness, but I wouldn’t want to do it again even if I found it very pleasant to always be wide awake…
The books I will read on vacation: I want to reread journey to the Edge of the Night of Céline because we talked about it a lot recently with the release of War, from the same author. I read it when I was 12, I think my perception may be very different.
People living or dead that I would like to gather at my table? I would invite René Lévesque, whom I knew, because he was a journalist and he was so interesting. Albert Camus who has already kindly dedicated a book to me thanks to my friend Jacques who had met him in Paris. I would also invite Kamel Daoud who wrote Meursault, counter-investigationa sequel to the stranger. I would like that, to listen to them talk to each other, those two.
A place in the world where I feel good: Paris, which I haven’t visited for eight years. I don’t know if I’ll still feel so good there, but for me it’s by far the most beautiful city in the world. And unlike everyone else, the French, I don’t find them that boring.
A professional thing that I dream of doing, but that I was never offered: Be a judge on the show The Chiefs ! [rires]. It’s so beautifully presented, and it’s really good. I would like to taste everything. (Warning to producers, the idea is launched in the universe!)
Who is René Homier-Roy?
- Born in Montreal in 1940.
- Director of the Arts and Entertainment pages of The Press from 1969 to 1973.
- Member of The gang of six from 1989 to 1993.
- Host of It’s much better in the morning from 1998 to 2013.
- Host of Come see the actors from 2002 to 2012.
- Host of Culture Club since 2013.