Shushma Datt

Shushma Datt (born 1946) is a Canadian radio and television broadcaster. She is credited as the first Canadian broadcaster of South-Asian descent and is considered a pioneer of ethnic broadcasting in British Columbia.

Biography Datt was born in Kenya in 1946 into a large family. Her father was an accountant. Her family moved to India during a period of unrest in Kenya. During her time in India, Datt studied at Delhi University and worked with the Indian newspaper, The Times of India. She also branched to television producing content for OMNI TV and Shaw TV. In 2005, Datt obtained an AM band license for a station that started as RJ1200, a multicultural radio station in the Vancouver region, which was later rebranded as Spice Radio. Per a biography in Canadian newspaper, Vancouver Sun, she was the first woman to obtain a broadcasting license from the CRTC.

For her contributions, Datt is considered a pioneer of ethnic broadcasting in British Columbia. She received the Order of British Columbia in 1992, and is also a recipient of the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal. Locally, she is the recipient of the YWCA Woman of Distinction Award and was listed among the 100 "most influential Indo-Canadians" by the Vancouver Sun and as one of 150 "most influential British Columbians" by the Royal British Columbia Museum.