Canadian Connection   

Veteran Canadian radio correspondent Dick Gordon scores the slot as host of WBUR-FM’s “The Connection” in Boston.

Veteran Canadian radio correspondent Dick Gordon scores the slot as host of WBUR-FM's "The Connection" in Boston. Gordon replaces the NPR-affiliate show's original and very popular host Christopher Lydon, who left the program with his senior producer in March after a public dispute with management (see Bylines, April). In 24 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corp., Gordon, 45, handled scores of overseas assignments. Since 1997 he has been senior correspondent and back-up host for CBC Radio One's daily public affairs show "This Morning." "I really like hosting," he says. "I find in many ways it is kind of the apex of the art of storytelling on radio." The challenge of the "Connection"--whose topics range from philosophy and the arts to the details of international peace agreements--is doing the research and then mentally staying "a nanosecond ahead" of the conversations with expert guests and callers to keep them clear and comprehensible to listeners, Gordon says.