Shelagh Rogers, the host of CBC radio's Sounds Like Canada, is no stranger to the Yukon, having first travelled to the territory to hike the Chilkoot Trail in 1987.

As protege to the late Peter Gzowski and his ever-popular Morningside radio show, Rogers has been and remains an ardent supporter of literacy and the annual literacy golf tournaments maintained in his namesake.

She was here for the tourney last July, has been to several Gzowski fundraisers in Whitehorse previously, and wants to come next summer.

'I am lobbying right now with John Spicer, who runs it,' Rogers said during an interview shortly after arriving in Whitehorse Monday to begin the first series of live broadcasts of her show from the Yukon.

'And I think it is pretty much a done deal.

'If you put this in your newspaper, it will be a done deal,' says the veteran broadcaster, with a wink and a bubbling but crafty smile.

Rogers opened her national show this morning with a short segment with Whitehorse comedian and artist Roy Ness.

The somewhat zany Ness picked her up from the airport Monday, and provided the comic relief while driving her around town and finally to The Corp's Third Avenue offices.

Ness was followed by environmentalists Yuri Peepre and Sara Lock talking about their work on the Three Rivers project and the book they co-authored about it.

Audrey McLaughlin, the Yukon's New Democratic MP of 10 years and the first woman in Canada's history to lead a national party when she won the NDP leadership 16 years ago this month, was invited to discuss her recent overseas work to assist with democratic reform and such in countries like Iraq and Palestine.

Also featured was Whitehorse musician Indio Saravanja.

But it was the story of cancer survivor Robbie Benoit, who served as the poet laureate for last summer's Gzowski tournament, that drew Rogers and her two production northward.

Rogers says it was his decision to host tonight's party his 'Cancer can kiss my ass party' that flushed the crew out of the Vancouver studios and sent them north.

As Benoit explains, says the CBC veteran of 25 years, he has a much different perspective on life before he was forced to close his dog grooming business to seek treatment for liver cancer.

'I think Robbie is someone who will impress people right across the country,' says Rogers.

She says it only made sense to do a series of shows rather than come for the Benoit party alone. So it was and so it is.

Interviews, music and whatever comes along from tonight's Cancer-can-kiss-my-ass-party will be taped to provide material for Friday's entire show.

Tomorrow and Thursday will be feature a variety of Yukoners from different walks of northern life, from the mining claim to the dog mushing trail, and into the hearts of the territory's youth to explore the lives of Yukoners in their late teens or early 20s, Rogers reveals.

'I just think we want to get a handle on this place.'

Taped live in Vancouver every morning beginning at 6:00, Sounds Like Canada is fed first to the east coast and then it's, as they say, bicycled back across the country, going to air at 10:06 in each and every time zone.

She doesn't get to see most of her guests, to read their expressions and get a feel for their body language, as she touches upon a variety of national issues with guests on the other end of the phone, or sitting in studios elsewhere.

In Whitehorse, it'll all be face-to-face, arm-in-arm. She likes that.

Rogers remembers fondly the time not so long ago when she travelled to the Yukon to assist renowned CBC host Arthur Black of the program Basic Black with his fireside reading special every Christmas.

It was -40, and Rogers was prepared. Black wasn't.

Having just moved to the Salt Spring Islands in British Columbia, he brought nothing more than a pair of rain pants for outerwear, thinking a few layers of clothing underneath would be fine.

But the moment he went outside, Rogers chuckles, as she often does, he walked like the Tin Man.

Rogers says during the past summer-fall's seven-week lockout, as something of a travelling cheerleader for the union's cause, she and her team wanted to get up north, but simply couldn't for budgetary reasons.

With the length of the strike, however, they made it clear across the country, from Victoria to St. Johns.

It was a trip of thrift, supported by welcome generosity wherever it surfaced, she explains.

Rogers says it was an opportunity to meet her fellow CBC employees across Canada, and to make the case for public broadcasting because it was not, she believes, being heard during the dispute.

'We met many, many of our colleagues and I think they are people who should be cherished,' she says. 'They are great, and they are committed to public broadcasting.'

Rogers says she finds the same reverence for Gzowski and his cause that she herself holds.

'If I can, I want to keep that going, and Peter Mansbridge (the national TV news anchor) is really committed to it as well, because Peter (Gzowski) was a dear friend.

'When I come to the North, I find Peter is very much alive, and still in people's minds.'

Rogers says she understands literacy on a personal note, having experienced the hardship of reading out loud as a child.

Besides, when Gzowski asked you to volunteer and she's been involved since the very first tournament 20 years ago you didn't feel like saying anything but yes.

'It was like Oz coming to Dorothy.'

And the cause is a natural fit for her and her colleagues at CBC who support the effort to raise money to increase literacy, as the issue of literacy is of the utmost importance, and non-political.

'We want to create a better country, and creating a literate citizenship will mean our country is better and stronger.'

Rogers says writing was Gzowski's passion and first love.

Listeners are invited to drop into the CBC studios in Whitehorse to chat with Rogers from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. Wednesday.