On the radio side, he was the first Canadian to break the story of the use of Agent Orange in the Vietnam War; on the television, he produced segments for series like Weekend and Peter Gzowski's 90 Minutes Live.
(Filling in once on the current affairs series Viewpoint, he hired the Cambridge University Choir to sing the Canada Elections Act in harmony.)
The idea didn't sell to Canadian television networks of the day – at the CBC, it was caught between the departments of variety and current affairs – but Moses Znaimer, the impresario of Toronto independent station CITY-TV, took on Martin's plan, and The NewMusic launched in 1979.
Much went on to great success in its own right, inspired spin-off, joint venture and licensed sister networks and programs, within Canada and internationally, and underwrote the music video arts foundation VideoFACT.
After leaving Much and CHUM in 1993 – "His mercurial temperament and guerilla management style," CITY's news website would recall after his death, had started "to clash with others in the industry" – he worked on specials, directing The Genius of Lenny Breau (1999), which explores the short and tragic life of Canadian guitar legend Lenny Breau, and also directing Hank & Jimmie: A Story of Country (2000), a portrait of the troubled lives and relationship of Hank Snow and his only child, singer-turned-preacher Jimmie Rodgers Snow.