Even from his earliest days, the Toronto-born and raised Atkinson seemed to have entertainment in his blood. He got his start in the late 1940s as a Canadian publicist for Decca Records, the U.K. label that was home to Bing Crosby’s "White Christmas," before making a break for local radio. Atkinson’s first stops were at CFRB-AM in Toronto from 1948 to 1950 and then CHUM-AM from 1950 to 1954. But it was a move to the nation’s capital in 1954, where he took a gig at CFRA-AM, that offered Atkinson the opportunity to really make a splash as the host of "Campus Corner," a two-hour weekend show that focused on youth entertainment.