Jack Webster – a veteran journalist with a reputation for being both tough and fair – was a pioneer of talk radio and television in British Columbia. His long-running public affairs television program “Webster!” is a virtual “who’s who” from a decade in British Columbia and Canadian public life. Politicians, First Nations, labour leaders, prominent business people, authors, academics and entertainers were among those interviewed on the show, covering social and political issues important to British Columbians at the time, many of which resonate today.

The Jack Webster collection comprises videotape recordings of the public affairs program produced and hosted by Webster, and broadcast on British Columbia Television (BCTV) from 1978 to 1987. On his retirement in 1987, Webster and BCTV donated all 2,500 cassette videotapes of the broadcast recordings to the BC Archives. In all, there are 1,150 episodes in the collection.

Founded in 1986, The Jack Webster Foundation carries on his legacy by promoting and honouring the achievements of BC-based reporters with awards, fellowships and educational programs. “Websters” are considered the measure of journalistic excellence in British Columbia.