Initially operating under the on-air name of Dave Mickie, with much fast-talking patter, he was a notable Toronto DJ of the 1960s who attracted critical attention from Marshall McLuhan.
Reinventing himself, and using his real name of David Marsden, he became a much more laid-back free-form DJ, notably at CHOM in Montreal then CHUM-FM in Toronto in the 1970s.
Bored with the station's commercial easy listening music, he reportedly brought in some of his own records one night, breaking format and hosting in an uncharacteristically dynamic style.
He was the subject of a chapter in Marshall McLuhan's book Understanding Media, which lauded his unique hosting style: That's Patty Baby and that's the girl with the dancing feet and that's Freddy Cannon there on the David Mickie Show in the night time ooohbah scuba-doo how are you booboo.
He left the station in February 1975 to devote more time to his radio commercial production company, but mainly because of the tight playlist CHUM-FM was making their DJs follow.
Marsden saw the commercial potential of punk and new wave, and widened CFNY's focus even further, creating Canada's first alternative music station.
[5] In July 1987, Marsden and CFNY general manager Bill Hutton hired Don Berns as the new program director.
Initially, Marsden continued as director of operations, and as executive producer of the CASBY Awards, but left CFNY a year later.
After Jim Ladd was no longer broadcasting on KLOS as of 2011, during his last few years on CKGE, Marsden was the only free form DJ on a commercial radio station in North America.
Most recently, Marsden and his business partner Igor Loukine created the subscription based radio channel NYTheSpirit.com, which launched in September, 2014.
The station plays a mixture of music, concentrating heavily on the 1980s alternative scene, but with a freeform mentality that mimics Marsden's 1980s heyday at CFNY.
Beginning in February 2015, The Marsden Theatre became a regular feature on NYTheSpirit; the live show is currently broadcast Friday and Saturday nights (8PM to midnight, EST).
Marsden has been profiled in exhibits at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, both for his on-air Dave Mickie persona and for his role as program director of CFNY.