Alan Cross (born Krawec) is a Canadian radio broadcaster and a writer on music. Based in Toronto, Ontario, he is best known nationally and internationally as host of the syndicated radio series The Ongoing History of New Music, The Secret History of Rock, and ExploreMusic. In 2013, he started the Geeks & Beats podcast with BNN's Michael Hainsworth.
Background
Originally from the small prairie town of Stonewall, Manitoba, Cross began his radio career with the University of Winnipeg's campus radio station, CKUW, in 1980. He subsequently joined radio stations in Selkirk, Kenora and Brandon before returning to Winnipeg's CHIQ.
Career
He joined CFNY on October 3, 1986, as an overnight announcer. The following year, he moved to the 10 a.m.-2 p.m. slot; in 1993, he returned to afternoon drive and remained there until 2001.
Cross left CFNY in 2001 to become program director of CJXY in Hamilton, remaining in that role until moving to Corus Entertainment's interactive media division, Splice Media (now called Corus Interactive and Integrated Solutions), in 2008 to launch the ExploreMusic project — although CFNY still aired The Ongoing History of New Music until 2011. He also hosted the television program ExploreMusic on aux.tv.
Cross left Corus Entertainment in early July 2011, after the company restructured their online content department. Throughout this era, Cross also maintained his own personal music blog, A Journal of Musical Things; in 2009, he attracted international attention when he became the first music critic in the world to post an advance review of U2's new single "Get On Your Boots".
In 2014, he was named as the head of music curation for Songza's operations in Canada, and curated a museum exhibition on the science of rock music for the Ontario Science Centre. In the fall of that year, he returned to CFNY and relaunched The Ongoing History of New Music,
Personal life
Cross is married to Mary Ellen Beninger, a journalist who has been associated with the Toronto radio stations CFNY, CFTR and CHFI.
- 20th Century Rock and Roll: Alternative Rock (2000)