Marilyn Denis on the future of her career and daytime lifestyles TV

TORONTO — Ten seasons into her talk show and more than 30 years into her beloved broadcasting career, Canadian daytime television queen Marilyn Denis has no plans to give up her throne.

“A lot of my friends at my age are retiring and I’m like ‘No, I’m not doing that,'” Denis, 61, said in a recent interview in her office at Bell Media’s downtown headquarters. 

“I’m always focusing on what’s next, for sure. But this is not going away for a long time.”

On Monday CTV’s “The Marilyn Denis Show” enters its milestone 10th season, kicking off a week of special segments and interviews, including a sit-down with two-time Oscar-winning actress Jane Fonda and fan-appreciation events in Vancouver and Banff, Alta.

“I think lifestyle TV has got a lot of years ahead of it,” Denis said. 

“I still think people are wanting quality information to make their lives better, easier, healthier. That will never go away.”

“The Marilyn Denis Show” started in January 2011, a few years after the venerable lifestyles and entertainment personality left her 19-year gig with Citytv’s “Cityline” when it became a property of Rogers Media.

“People thought this show was not going to be successful,” Denis said. “And that’s music to my ears, because when you tell me that I can’t do something and that it’s going to fail — thank you for that fire. Because that makes me work harder.”

Since then “it’s evolved so much,” Denis said, noting they’ve tweaked their team behind the scenes and in front of the camera to get to the “real essence” of the show, which is providing lifestyles tips through expert guests.

“I’m just there guiding it and I’m really representing the audience,” said Denis, heaping praise on the show’s producers and other members of the team for churning out 25-30 segments a week while caring deeply about their work and guests.

“But we want to have fun doing it.”

Denis’s own life has also gone through changes in the past 10 seasons.

Last December her CHUM 104.5 co-host of 33 years, Roger Ashby, retired. The next month saw the launch of “Marilyn Denis and Jamar,” a new weekly radio show with herself and Jamar McNeil.

Meanwhile, Denis’s son, Virgin Radio Toronto host Adam Wylde, got married and had a baby in May, making her a grandmother.

And the Edmonton-born Denis herself got married in June 2018, to an anesthesiologist she first met as a kid, while growing up in Pittsburgh.

She said she and Jim Helman went to the same school together for a few grades, and he took her to her junior prom in April 1975 before they lost touch. They reunited 40 years later when he sent a message to “The Marilyn Denis Show” Facebook site looking to get in touch with her.

Phone numbers were exchanged, dinners were had, and eventually he asked her to marry him.

“This is better than a (Hallmark) movie,” quipped Denis, displaying her signature wit that’s endeared her to audiences since she became the first female DJ at KRPL in Moscow, Idaho.

Denis’s life story is actually something people have asked her to jot down in book form but she hasn’t committed to anything, she said.

“People are encouraging me to do that, and I’ve thought about it,” Denis said. “For me to sit down and do it, I don’t know. It is a lot (of work).”

One thing that hasn’t changed for Denis: Her 4 a.m. wake-up call for her radio show on CHUM. Once that’s done she walks over to “The Marilyn Denis Show” set to shoot from 10 a.m. to noon, which is often followed by meetings. Three times a week she heads to the gym at 2 p.m.

“Friday, I’m exhausted and I want have some fun,” Denis said. “So that’s when I have lunch with my friends, because gosh knows I can’t have it at night, because I’ll fall asleep. I’m in bed by 7:00, 7:30.”

“So you have to reconfigure things, but honestly, I love what I do.”

Victoria Ahearn, The Canadian Press