People of Parry Sound Project
A familiar voice in Parry Sound
Kathy Jennings is a radio broadcaster and morning host at Moose FM 103.3 in Parry Sound, Ontario. Each weekday morning she reads local news, interviews community guests, and shares information about events happening across West Parry Sound. For many residents, her voice is part of the daily rhythm of the town. People hear her in their kitchens while making coffee, in their cars driving along Highway 400, and in workplaces across the region as the day begins.
Local radio still plays a practical role in communities like Parry Sound. It carries weather reports, school announcements, charity fundraisers, business openings, and the everyday stories of people who live and work in the area. Over time, the person delivering those messages becomes familiar. In Kathy’s case, that familiarity extends beyond the microphone. Many people first hear her voice on the radio and later meet her at a market, a fundraiser, or a community event somewhere in town.
What they often notice is that the person they meet sounds exactly like the voice they hear on the air. One resident who first encountered Kathy while she was running the Moose FM booth at an event on James Street remembered introducing herself and hearing a simple reply. “Hi Sally, I’m Kathy.” They spoke for a few minutes and quickly fell into an easy conversation. That moment has been repeated many times since. Listeners describe her voice as warm and upbeat on the radio, and they say that the same warmth appears when they meet her in person.
Over time, that consistency has made Kathy Jennings one of the most recognizable voices in Parry Sound.
Early Life and Family Background
From Fort St. John to the Yukon and Ottawa
Kathy Jennings was born in Fort St. John, British Columbia, but the place she thinks of as her childhood home is the Yukon. Her father worked for the government, and when she was still young the family moved north. She spent those years in Dawson City, Whitehorse, and Watson Lake. Later, as a teenager, she returned to Ottawa, which she still describes as home in an older, foundational sense, even though smaller communities would eventually suit her better.
The North shaped her early life in ways she only appreciated later. As a child, living in the Yukon felt very different from the larger city life she would later find in Ottawa. When she returned north as an adult and visited Dawson City again, she was able to see the beauty of the place more clearly. The landscape that had once simply been the backdrop of childhood became something she could recognize and enjoy on its own terms.
Her family life was close and active. Kathy grew up in a large extended family that gathered often for Sunday dinners, birthdays, holidays, and potlucks. She had a sister and two brothers in the home, and later spoke of another sister through her birth mother. The family rhythm was built around being together. Those routines mattered. They created habits of showing up, checking in, and marking life’s events in company with other people.
Her parents and siblings were not especially like the public, highly social version of Kathy that people in Parry Sound know today. She laughs about that contrast herself. Her parents were quieter. One brother dislikes photos. Another is an arts oriented photographer. Kathy became the one who talks about blue skies, flowers, music, and what is happening around town. But the instinct to stay connected to people came from somewhere, and the family structure she grew up in clearly played a role.
Childhood and Formative Changes
Blossoming in Ottawa
As a younger child, Kathy does not describe herself as especially outgoing. She says she was not the same person then that people know now. The change came more clearly when she moved to Ottawa for high school. There, something opened up. She joined the basketball team, helped in the library, and found herself in a more diverse and socially active environment where people were friendly and open.
One of the things that struck her most about that school was how different groups of students mixed naturally. She saw people from different backgrounds getting along, working together, and moving through the halls without the tension she had sometimes noticed elsewhere. That environment seems to have given her room to grow into herself. She has described it as the point where she felt like a butterfly coming out.
Recognition mattered too. When people greeted her in the halls and treated her as someone worth noticing, she began to step forward more. The confidence that later became visible on radio did not appear all at once, but it started there. Looking back, she can see that the outgoing part of her personality was always possible. It simply needed the right environment to emerge.
She also learned something about small towns and large centres that would stay with her. In small places, connection can be strong, but life can also feel hard when the social circle is tight and not always kind. In Ottawa, she saw a different version of community, one built through diversity and movement. Years later, after living in a number of smaller places, she found that she no longer missed the big city. But the contrast helped her understand how people belong, and how easily they can feel left out if that belonging is missing.
Education, Training, and Early Work
Finding radio by degrees
Kathy did not go to radio school. Her early working life began in freight forwarding, handling air, ocean, and ground transportation of products around the world. It was practical work and a very different field from broadcasting. Later she moved to Kelowna, and eventually to Swift Current, Saskatchewan, where there was no freight forwarding work available. That change in geography changed the direction of her life.
She started at the local radio station doing part time data entry on weekends. From there she was offered an evening show. The station trained her, and she learned the work by doing it. At first she typed all of her breaks into WordPerfect and read them as written. Then she learned how to read them in a way that did not sound read. She learned live, not pre recorded. She also learned while being shy. In those early years she found remotes, emceeing, and public appearances much harder than she does now.
“You don’t actually need a radio voice. You just need your voice.”
That realization came gradually. Kathy says no one ever really told her how to use her voice. She learned through repetition, critique, and paying attention. One mentor in Swift Current, a broadcaster named Ken, helped guide her early training. Later, in Ontario, she learned from Dave, a program director in Bracebridge. She also learned from younger broadcasters coming out of school, especially in how to think more creatively about content, comedy, and new ways of putting a show together.
There were ordinary mistakes. She left the microphone open once. She once took a call while the line was still going over the air. Like many broadcasters, she also learned that she was her own sharpest critic. She listened back, replayed her breaks in her head, and thought about what she should have said differently. That self critique never really disappears. It just becomes part of the work.
Relationships and Family Life
Keeping close to home while building a public life
Kathy’s family remains spread across different places. Her sister is in Ottawa. One brother lives in Paris, Ontario. Another is in Montreal. Another sister lives in Winnipeg. Her father is in his late seventies. Her mother, who has known Kathy since childhood and raised her, is living with stage four cancer. Kathy also spoke about her birth mother, who has died.
These family realities matter in quieter ways. Radio can make someone sound constantly available and upbeat, but life off the air still contains the same responsibilities, worries, and griefs that shape everyone else’s days. Kathy is open about that. She has spoken publicly about struggling after the deaths of her birth mother and Kent Matheson in the same period, and about the mental health crash that followed. She stepped away from work for a time and later shared that experience with listeners when she returned.
That kind of honesty helps explain why people often describe her as a real person first and a broadcaster second. One listener wrote, “I hope her listeners truly see the value she brings to our community because of who she is as a person and not just the voice on the radio.” Another said more simply, “Kathy is the real deal.”
Work and Service
Stepping into Parry Sound
Kathy Jennings arrived in Parry Sound to join Moose FM 103.3 as a morning host. The position she stepped into already had a long history in the community. For many years the morning voice on the station had been Kent Matheson, known affectionately as The Golden Voice of Radio. Kent had spent more than a decade waking up the region with local news, weather reports, and steady conversation about life in Parry Sound. Colleagues described him as a gentle giant and a straight shooter with dry wit and a deep knowledge of the town. For many listeners he was not simply a broadcaster. He was part of their morning routine.
Before arriving in Parry Sound in 2008, Kent had built a respected career in radio that included twelve years in Moncton as a music director with national award nominations. He later spent fourteen years as Moose FM’s morning host and news anchor, becoming one of the most recognizable voices in the region. Stepping into that role meant inheriting more than a microphone. It meant becoming part of a relationship that already existed between the station and the community.
Kathy understood that the transition would take time. She had known Kent from earlier work in Bracebridge, but in Parry Sound she had the chance to work more closely with him. She has described him as a "book of knowledge" about the town. She listened, watched, and learned. Kent was not especially drawn to going out to events, while Kathy was. She remembers encouraging him to come along to remotes, bowling fundraisers, and downtown events so people could meet him more often in person. It was a practical way of introducing herself while also bringing listeners closer to someone they already knew well.
Rather than trying to imitate the style of the broadcaster who came before her, she focused on learning the town itself. She attended local events, spoke with small business owners, and invited volunteers and organizers onto the radio show. Markets, fundraisers, festivals, and community gatherings became opportunities to meet people and understand what mattered to them.
One story from those first days has stayed with her. Before she had even fully settled into Parry Sound, a listener heard on the radio that the new announcer needed a place to stay for two weeks until her apartment was ready. A woman called in and offered a spare room, provided Kathy did not mind cats. Kathy stayed there, and the two later became close friends. It was an early example of the kind of welcome she received in the community.
Community Life and Daily Routines
Doing the work behind the voice
Morning radio begins long before most listeners turn on their radios. Kathy is at the station around four o’clock in the morning and goes on air at six. Between those times she turns the music up loud, sings, dances, makes coffee, records news, reads stories aloud before taping them, and prepares weather and sports. Her weather is always done live because it needs to be current. Her day usually ends around one thirty or two, but the work does not end there.
She also serves as program director for the Cottage Country stations and records an afternoon show for stations near Barry’s Bay and Kemptville. After that she still has to prepare for the next morning, think about topics, check on what people are talking about, and respond to messages that keep coming all week, not just during work hours. Road conditions, school bus cancellations, event updates, fundraising requests, and community news arrive at all times.
Listeners often hear only the lively front end of radio. What they do not always see is that it is not a Monday to Friday nine to five job. It is a continuous habit of paying attention. Kathy welcomes that. She says she worked for that kind of community connection and values the fact that people reach out to her with information they want shared.
Her way of handling guests reflects the same practical care. She usually sends questions ahead of time, asks guests to arrive early, sits down with them before going on air, explains what each break will cover, and reminds them that they are simply talking about something they already know well. That preparation makes people feel less nervous, and it is one reason so many guests later say she made the process feel easy.
One person who came on air to talk about the McKellar Market wrote afterward, “Kathy immediately made me feel at ease and guided me through the process with such professionalism and kindness.” Another guest co host said that hers is “literally a very important voice in our community.”
Telling Other People’s Stories
Helping people feel comfortable enough to share
Many of the people who sit across from Kathy in the Moose FM studio are not used to microphones or interviews. They are volunteers organizing fundraisers, local business owners opening a new shop, or athletes returning home after competitions. Part of Kathy’s work is helping them feel comfortable enough to tell their story in their own words.
When the microphones turn on, Kathy is not trying to conduct a formal interview. She is trying to have a conversation. Most of the people who sit across from her are not used to radio studios, so part of her work is helping them relax enough to speak naturally. The goal is simple: make the studio feel less like a broadcast and more like two people talking about something that matters to them.
For Kathy, the responsibility of telling someone else’s story is something she takes seriously.
“I always want to make sure that I have all the details,” she explains. “You never want to not tell it the right way.”
That responsibility was especially clear when Parry Sound Olympic freestyle skier Megan Oldham returned home after her success on the world stage. Sitting across from her in the studio, Kathy found herself briefly starstruck, something that rarely happens after years in broadcasting. But once the conversation began, the focus returned to the same thing that guides most of her interviews: helping someone share their story honestly with the community they come from.
“You are telling someone’s story,” she says. “You are really carrying it through.”
Over time, hundreds of conversations like these have passed through the Moose FM studio. Taken together, they form a kind of living record of the people, events, and moments that shape life in Parry Sound.
Community Presence
Being there when things are happening
Kathy has become highly visible in everyday community life. Residents see her at Chamber events, markets, charity fundraisers, and local celebrations. One listener described her as “the pulse of the town,” while another said she is like "city pulse” because she is always promoting people and places in and around Parry Sound.
“Kathy finds a way to be everywhere. When people are busy doing the work, she is there helping tell the story.”
That visibility is not accidental. Kathy says she wants people to know she lives an ordinary life too. She goes to the store, she does laundry, she runs errands, and she wants people to see that she is simply another resident of the town, even if her voice happens to be familiar. At the same time, being known in public comes with its own discipline. She is aware that people are listening and watching, and that awareness affects how she moves through the town.
Sometimes the importance of that public presence shows up in quiet ways. In July 2024 one listener was recovering at home after receiving a pacemaker in Barrie. That same weekend the Parry Sound Cruisers Car Show was taking place at Dunn’s Storage, an event he had hoped to attend. Kathy walked through the show filming live video and sharing it online. He later wrote to say that because of her he probably saw more of the cars than he would have if he had gone in person.
That simple act captured something important about her work. Local broadcasters do not only report on events. Sometimes they help people feel included in them.
Later Work and Reflection
Leaving, returning, and understanding what fit
At one point in her broadcasting career, Kathy left Parry Sound to take a position in North Bay. It was a career move, the kind that often makes sense on paper. The job was promotions director for five stations, plus a midday on air role, in a larger market. She thought it might be the next step in her career and accepted it while staying within the same company.
Once she got there, however, she realized that the work was different from what she loved most. It was more desk based, more Monday to Friday, and gave her much less time in the community. She did not get to go to events in the same way or tell local stories in the same way. She learned useful skills in promotions, but she missed the direct connection with people.
When the opportunity to return to Parry Sound came up, she saw it as a sign. She called her boss, and the move back happened naturally. That return was strongly felt by listeners. People welcomed her back with affection and with the kind of response that told her the relationship had held during her absence.
She says this chapter of her life feels different from earlier ones because she now sees Parry Sound not simply as the place where she works, but as the place where she is building the rest of her life. Her closest friends are here. The landscape suits her. Ottawa is still reachable, but Parry Sound feels more settled and more permanent.
That sense of belonging has grown through repetition. Showing up. Staying in touch. Telling the stories that matter to the community. Returning when she realized what kind of work actually fit who she is.
Character and Inner Qualities
How people describe Kathy
When friends, colleagues, and listeners describe Kathy Jennings, certain words return again and again. Warm. Friendly. Welcoming. Bubbly. Calm. Supportive. Community. One person called her “the voice of the community.” Another wrote, “Warm. Friendly. Transparent.”
Many people also mention the same contrast. They hear her voice first, then meet her in person, and find no difference between the two. One listener wrote that she has “a warm, uplifting presence that instantly makes people feel comfortable and valued.” Another said she is “the real deal.”
“She made friends and integrated herself into the town as if she had lived here all along.”
Several comments go further and suggest that Kathy’s work in radio is not separate from who she is. One person wrote, “I think this is genuinely who she is as a person.” Another described her as someone who knows when a person needs a coffee, a card, a night out, or a hug. Those comments suggest that the energy she brings to the microphone is not a performance layered on top of daily life. It is an extension of the way she already moves through the world.
Kathy herself seems aware of this. When asked whether radio shaped her into the person she is now or simply amplified something already present, she said it brought out who she is. She recognizes that she is much more public and expressive than most of her family, but she does not seem to experience that difference as artificial. It is simply where she ended up.
What Endures
A voice that becomes part of the town
Local radio has changed in recent decades. Digital platforms and streaming services have altered how many people listen to music and news. Yet in places like Parry Sound the role of local broadcasting remains practical and immediate. It carries weather updates for Georgian Bay, announcements about community suppers, interviews with volunteers raising funds for hospital equipment, and conversations with people trying to build something in the town.
Kathy Jennings now sits inside that shared pattern. She arrived in Parry Sound as a broadcaster learning a new community. Over time, through repetition and presence, she became part of the community she was describing. Her work at Moose FM, her support for events like the annual Moose FM Radiothon for the West Parry Sound Health Centre Foundation, and her willingness to show up in ordinary places have all helped shape that role.
There are still quieter parts of her life. She reads. She cooks. She goes home after work, falls asleep on the couch for a while, watches television, checks her socials, and tries to protect Sundays as her own. She thinks more now about protecting her health and keeping balance in a job that can easily expand into every part of the week.
But each morning, many residents still hear her voice first as they begin the day. They may be making breakfast, driving along the highway, or opening a business. The radio turns on, the familiar voice begins speaking, and another day in Parry Sound starts to take shape.
In that sense, Kathy has spent years doing on the radio what People of Parry Sound tries to do in another form: helping a community hear itself more clearly.
In a town where people still care who is on the air, that kind of consistency matters. One trusted voice was lost. Another arrived, listened, learned the place, and stayed. That is now part of Kathy Jennings’s story in Parry Sound.
Context and References
This story is based on interviews with Kathy Jennings, reflections submitted by family, friends, colleagues, listeners, and community members, and public material related to local radio and community organizations in Parry Sound. Readers interested in the broader local context may find the following resources helpful:
- Moose FM 103.3 and My Parry Sound Now
- West Parry Sound Health Centre Foundation
- West Parry Sound Health Centre
- Community events and organizations mentioned in this story include the Parry Sound Cruisers Car Show, McKellar Market, Bowling for Boobs, and Stache Bash
Media of Kathy Jennings
Listen to a short narration of Kathy's story
Short video narration of Kathy's Story
Article in Parry Sound Life
The People of Parry Sound Project documents the lives and stories of individuals connected to Parry Sound and the surrounding region. Through portraits and conversations, the project aims to capture the voices and experiences that shape the community.
