Vittorio Coco (born November 11, 1939) is an Italian and Canadian journalist and politician. He has worked at CHIN radio in Toronto since 1973 and was for many years the host of an Italian-language morning program. Coco ran for the Italian Senate in the 2006 and 2008 general elections.
Coco was born in Roccagorga, a small town near Rome. He studied journalism in Rome and worked in print media after graduating.
He moved to Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, in 1959 and intended to start an Italian-language newspaper in the city (at the time, he has noted, there were no Italian journals in Canada west of Winnipeg). He instead became involved in radio, overseeing Italian-language programming at the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's CHFA in Edmonton and broadcasting from Expo '67 in Montreal, Quebec.[1]
Coco joined CHIN radio in Toronto in 1972 as its news director. Later in the same year, he became the debut host of "Wake-Up Italian Style," the station's Italian-language morning show.[2] He celebrated his twenty-sixth year on the air in 1998, excepting a short period of time in the 1970s when he hosted an afternoon program. Under Coco's watch, "Wake-Up Italian Style" featured a combination of music and spoken-word content, including new hit material from Italy.[3] Coco has also worked for "Festival Italiano di Johnny Lombardi" program on CHIN-TV.
Coco identifies as a Roman Catholic and has said he has always supported the Christian Democrats and successor parties in Italian politics.[5] He has served as the Union of the Centre's political secretary in Canada.[6]
^Peter Goddard, "Hed goes here," Toronto Star, 10 October 1998, p. 1.
^Zena Cherry, "Party honors Shakespeare, aids Festival," Globe and Mail, 25 April 1984, M4; "Radio jocks cooking for sick kids," Toronto Star, 27 May 1988, D18; Michael Prini, "The New Language of Selling," The Metropolitan Toronto Business Journal, October 1988, p. 30; Peter Goddard, "Hed goes here," Toronto Star, 10 October 1998, p. 1.
^Peter Goddard, "Hed goes here," Toronto Star, 10 October 1998, p. 1.
^Marina Jiménez, "When not in Rome, vote, as Romans do," Globe and Mail, 6 March 2006, A4; Sandro Contenta, "Italians might return to polls," Toronto Star, 11 April 2006, A1.
