SOME MORE BLASTS FROM THE PAST

1050 CHUM Toronto early 1979 with unknown anncr promoting CHUM window stickers.

102.1 CFNY Toronto, year unknown, with unknown anncr promoting counterfeit commercial contest, commercial for Morningstar.

1050 CHUM Toronto from late 1978 with unknown anncr promoting the top 100 of 1978.

1050 CHUM Toronto from 1978 with unknown anncr congratulating a Grace Lewis of Scarborough on winning a vacation of her choice.

RADIO-RELATED STUFF

Congratulations, Dan Carter, on becoming mayor of Oshawa.

Picked up WDCX Buffalo a couple Saturdays ago with "The Raw Truth."

Sorry to hear WPTR Albany is gone. I have heard a few airchecks from their top 40 era and I remember them being an adult standards station in the early or mid-2000s.

INTERESTING AUDIO

Have come across a few interesting audiotapes recently.

First, a dub of a French foreign language instruction record which I surmise was from the early 1960s. A comprehensive selection of French words and phrases. Mention of there being lunch counters in drugstores.

A tape recorded on February 6 and 7, 1998, of an elderly man sending an audio letter to his sister Olga. Seems like she lived in Trenton or at least somewhere in the Quinte area. Mention of the ice storm of 1998. Chatting about life in Costa Rica. Didn't really seem like he liked it down there. Recorded at his house and in the park near his house, featuring the voice of his friend John from Vancouver, as well as background sounds such as cars and a siren, the sound of children playing in an empty fountain and people speaking in Spanish.

Came across a tape dubbed from a compilation record of songs from the sixties. At the end of the first side, a recording off the TV of an excerpt of an episode of "Magnum, P.I." Also featured people talking in the background. Older woman saying, "There so close together it isn't funny." Audio very distorted. Was most likely a small tape recorder shoved up against the TV.

At the end of the second side, clearer but by no means high quality audio of what appeared to be a daytime talk show about interracial adoption with various people giving their opinions (all in the affirmative) and studio audience clapping.

And, last but certainly not least, a tape of wedding speeches from August 20, 1988. The wedding took place in Peterborough and was between Jack Elliott and Carol Myers-Fedoruk, who had been voted French teacher of the year. The tape was recorded for something called "The French Connection." The only French Connection that I could find is the newsletter of the French studies department of the University of Waterloo. The anncr plays the Marsailles, introduces the recording of the speeches and gives closing credits at the end. If this was meant to be a radio show the audio was certainly of poor quality, not something any PD should have let go out over the air. Yet, it almost appears like a tape a reporter would make so he would have notes of the speeches to work from afterwords.

Carol and Jack were both middle-aged, Jack being about 57 at the time, which I know from having found his obituary. Along with her husband, Carol was getting a set of children and a grandchild and Jack was getting a set of parents.

LANDS OF LOST BORDERS: OUT OF BOUNDS ON THE SILK ROAD

By Kate Harris. Toronto: Alfred A. Knopf Canada, 2018.

Gripping and interesting from start to finish.

The author tells of her most interesting life in the first three chapters, then recounts the year she spent biking along the Silk Road with her friend. You don't need me to tell you this book is chalk full of memorable encounters and thought-provoking observations about Harris's travels and about life. You don't know whether to read this book all in one sitting or read a tiny bit every day.

Purchase it here.https://www.amazon.ca/Lands-Lost-Borders-Bounds-Silk/dp/0345816773

AMI GOES TO CAMP

Hosts from Canada's Accessible Media, Inc., travel to the CNIB's Lake Joseph Centre, a summer camp for the blind, visually impaired and their families.

I attended the spring sessions at Lake Joe from 1995-1997. This documentary brought back a lot of good memories, from tubing to fishing to sitting in the Muskoka chairs.

The documentary is also informative. I didn't know about the family camp or the WILD program.

It was also great to see how Lake Joe builds confidence and makes blind people more independent, an effect I remember it having on me, as well.

Things have also changed, though. The tuck shop was cash only when I went there; no Apple Pay to even be dreamed of. I also didn't remember the sailboats, and I don't remember any gymnastics routines or dancing at the talent show, though that's pretty cool.

Watch "AMI Goes to Camp" here.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1sJgNfSpYI

THERESA'S FAMILY RESTAURANT

95 Matthew Street, Marmora, Ontario.

I ate there last week and it was a really good experience. The service was the best I've received in a long time and the place had a wonderful, small-town atmosphere, enhanced by quirky signs displayed throughout the place. I had the all-day breakfast, which was delicious and quite reasonably priced.

THANKSGIVING AROUND THE WORLD

You may think Thanksgiving is only a thing in Canada and the States, but throughout October and November, various nations will be celebrating the holiday. Here's a look at seven of them.

I, of course, knew Canada celebrated Thanksgiving, though I don't think I've ever heard of anyone taking their vacations at that time or witnessed a Thanksgiving parade.

IRON ROOSTER ROTISSERIE AND GRILL

104221 Hwy 7, Marmora, Ontario.

Went to this restaurant a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. The Iron Rooster has a wide variation in the items on their menu, such as offering a dozen different kinds of burgers. The waitress was friendly, courteous and efficient. I had the quarter chicken dinner which was really good. The atmosphere was also quite nice and laid-back.

Also be sure to check out the antique motorcycle museum.

KILLERS OF THE FLOWER MOON: THE OSAGE MURDERS AND THE BIRTH OF THE FBI

By David Grann. New York: Vintage Books, 2017.

Sometimes a book can be satisfying and predictable at the same time.

Grann tells the story of the murders of several members of the oil-rich Osage Indian tribe in the twenties and how the newly renamed Federal Bureau of Investigation solved several of them.

This book was a thoroughly good read. As well as telling an interesting, true story in the main, the book delves into many other fascinating details of history that took place before the main events of the book.

Though the reader can see the ending from a few chapters in, predictability does not take away from the informative enjoyment the reader will receive.

Purchase it here.https://www.amazon.ca/Killers-Flower-Moon-Osage-Murders-ebook/dp/B01CWZFBZ4

SPRINGBROOK DINER

4876 Stirling-Marmora Road, Springbrook, Ontario.

I ate at this restaurant a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it. I had the spaghetti special which came with cheese and garlic bread. The food was delicious and the service was excellent.

THE COP WHO PAID THE SPEEDING TICKET

A lot of unbelievers have a problem with the fact that God, while holding people accountable for their sins, is at the same time the one who provided salvation from sin, like a police officer who clocks you going over the speed limit and then pays your speeding ticket.

First, the reason why God allowed Adam and Eve, and subsequently the rest of humanity, to sin, that is, eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, is a reason of freewill. Love that is forced is not love, so thus God had to give Adam and Eve the freedom to choose to love Him or not by placing that tree in the midst of the Garden of Eden. It is the same with us today and the sins we commit. God allows us to choose to sin or do what is right, to choose whether we will love Him or not.

The reason why God then had to punish Adam and Eve for committing the sin he gave them the freedom to commit is that real love doesn’t allow itself to be harmed. If you love someone, you’ll protect them and not want to see them get hurt by someone else. Similarly, if they are engaging in behavior that is hurtful to themselves or others, then love will come against that behavior. It’s the same with God. God doesn’t let Himself be blasphemed without consequences and He doesn’t let His creatures harm themselves, each other or Creation without consequences.

Third, the reason why God had to send His son (really Himself since Jesus and the Father are one according to John 17) to Earth to die for our sins is that a truly loving relationship will always include a way to repair damage to that relationship. If two friends have a fight, if one really loves the other one, they will make peace and reconcile with the other person.

Though in a very real sense God, being God, didn’t _have to send Jesus to Earth, He did it because He loves us and thus there needed to be a way provided for repairing the relationship between humans and God that sin had damaged.

COUGH AND COLD SEASON

Cold and flu season is upon us. While most people know they shouldn’t go to their doctor when they have a cough or cold and that antibiotics are no good at fighting the cold virus, I thought I would provide you with some natural remedies that might help get you and your kids right as rain a little quicker.

Here are some natural remedies for colds and flus.

And here is an article on treating ear infections in children.

WE'LL ALL BE BURNT IN OUR BEDS SOME NIGHT

By Joel Thomas Hynes. Toronto: Harper Collins, 2017.

Johnny, a young Newfoundland man with a criminal record and an absolutely horrific childhood is awaiting trial for assaulting his girlfriend. When she fails to show up for court due to having died of a drug overdose, Johnny is tasked with transporting her ashes to Vancouver in order to scatter them in the Pacific Ocean.

I downloaded this book from the website of the CNIB Library for the Blind. It was in the Humour section. However, it wasn’t funny at all.

Nevertheless, this was a novel I wanted to like. Johnny is a character I could have gotten into and Hynes does a really good job at giving the reader a sense of place.

However, I ended up disliking this book for so many reasons.

First of all, the time period it is set in is unclear. Johnny can remember the cod moratorium in 1992 when he was a child but he says he remembers listening to “Sex With Sue” on the radio, which I would have to assume meant Sue Johansen, who was on AM 640 for a brief period in the mid-nineties, when he was sixteen and evading police in an  old shack.

Second, at one point, after being seriously injured by a group of teenage girls in some prairie town, Johnny walks out of the hospital, hot-wires a car and drives to Grand Forks, BC, something someone in his condition would never have been able to pull off.

Third, realistically, nobody is going to pick up a dirty, smelly, battered young hitchhiker, especially not one with two teardrops tattooed on his face.

Fourth, Johnny can’t at all stop being a complete jerk ruled by his impulses. He robs a store the day he picks up his girlfriend’s ashes (just after getting off on an assault charge) and in general never quite grasps he should make a serious effort at starting anew.

Fifth, nobody along the way truly tries to reach Johnny. We learn about Johnny’s past mainly through his thoughts. Nobody along his route ever actually is able to take any real pity on him and encourage him with that new start he so desperately needs to make.

Sixth, of course Johnny dies at the end. (Yes, I just unexpectedly spoiled the ending. Deal with it.) No trying to work things out or make things right. No actually making it to Vancouver with the urn intact, scattering the ashes and getting a pleasant surprise that would have gladdened the reader and helped Johnny turn his life around.

All in all, don’t waste your time on this book, especially since CBC is promoting it so heavily.

CBC SPACE COMMAND 1953

Here’s the only existing episode of obscure CBC children’s show “Space Command”, from 1953 and featuring Mr. Scot himself, James Doohan.

CBC IS TOTALLY UNNECESARY

CBC Radio, in fact, hasn’t been necessary since the passage of the Broadcasting Act in 1964. Originally set up to prevent the Americans from buying up all the Canadian radio stations and taking over the airwaves, the Broadcasting Act insures a foreign company can not own more than 29 percent of a radio station, thus rendering CBC Radio’s mission obsolete.

I guess you could argue that back in 1952, when Canada was a nation of 10 million people spread over its vast land area, the government had to be the one to set up our first television network. After all, what private company would invest the huge amount of money it would take to get this scattered, and largely remote and rural at that time, population hooked up with the boob tube?

For one thing, however, CBC Television never truly has been Canada’s national TV network. It wasn’t available in Vancouver till 1958, and it wasn’t available in the north, at least as far as showing live and local programming, until 1979, when cable had started coming in to many homes down south and satelite television was not far in the future.

As far as promotion of obscure and Canadian music, campus and community stations do that at a fraction of the cost of CBC Music.

As far as comedy, we now have The Comedy Network, with “The Beaverton” doing political satire, which CBC hardly does anymore anyway.

As far as sports, we now have TSN, Sportsnet and a bunch of other channels focused on specific sports.

As far as news, CBC has become so biased their news coverage is even more of a joke than it used to be now anyway.

Defund! Right now!

ANOTHER BLAST FROM THE PAST

Came across a videotape of the film “Midway” as broadcast by CBS over its Rochester, New York affiliate WROC-TV on June 6, 1992.

Promos included next Saturday’s film “Born on the 4^th of July”, “Northern Exposure”, “Lonesome Dove”, “60 Minutes”, “Maury Povich”, “Grapevine”, “The Hollywood Game”, “Raven”, “Bodies of Evidence”, The McDonald’s Championship golf tournament, men’s lacrosse and track and field, and a tribute to “Guiding Light.”

Commercials included Hanes, Wisk laundry detergent, Crest toothpaste, the Aquafresh toothbrush, Max Factor, Pantene Pro-V, Vibrance, Pledge, FDS feminine deodorant spray, the Playtex 18 hour bra, McDonald’s pizza, Little Caesar’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Kellogg’s Frosted Mini-wheats, Country Time, Maxwell House Cappuccino, Molson Canadian, Jeep, AT&T, Sprint featuring Candice Bergen, Kingsford charcoal, and Kardasin DC.

News teasers for the 11:00 news with Jerry Fiore included a Rochester man being stabbed to death, a one percent increase in the sales tax and sports items.

It must have been taped by someone who received TV by antenna because the broadcast got completely blurry and unintelligible at some points.

A FASCINATING VIDEOTAPE

Came across an interesting videotape of a country music festival that was a fundraiser for IWK, a hospital for women and children in Halifax, Nova Scotia. I am guessing by one of the songs they played the tape is from the summer of 1998. It mainly features the now defunct Maritime Express. It also includes the head of the festival’s closing remarks. At one point, the band brought onstage a seven year old spoons player named Cody.

Interesting bits of conversation, people talking about whether the camera angle was right, a wife offering to go and get her husband coffee, kids talking about having money for the canteen, people making comments about the music.

The festival took place in Sackville, New Brunswick with mentions of Amherst, Nova Scotia, where some of the musicians were from.

MEDIA-RELATED STUFF

    Yes, CBS 3 Philadelphia, having a paleontologist from the Philadelphia Zoo on your morning show talking about your soccer team’s mascot as if it’s a real dinosaur is totally appropriate and professional. Is it any wonder why the mainstream media is dying?

Broadcast Dialogue forgot to mention that new 95.5 FM Belleville afternoon drive host Emily Quesnelle was also previously an anncr on Cool 100 and 95.5.

Why should Golden West Broadcasting and CJNU Winnepeg have to apologize for airing a spot that talked about residential school myths? There are myths surrounding Canada’s residential schools. See my post “The Secret Life of Canada Sucks” for links containing more information about that.

My paraphrase of new CBC president Catherine Tait’s interview on “The Early Edition”: “We still have a lot of listeners and viewers for CBC Radio and Television, but they’re all older so in order to attract the younger demographic we’re going to shift everything online or over the top. We’re going to launch Gem, buy up the Canadian content from NetFlicks, CraveTV and such and become the only OTT service where you can see Canadian programming. We’re also going to eliminate commercial advertising because we won’t need it since we’ll be raising money through subscription fees to Gem and taxpayer dollars. Also, we need to develop more programming for kids and other groups of young people so we’ll be getting rid of the few programs for older people we haven’t done away with already.”

Picked up WDCX the other week, one day with “Haven Today” and the next day with “Walk in the Word.”

So Alana Cameron is now on the Mix 97 morning show after years at The Wolf followed by a stint reading news on the weekend for Quinte Broadcasting.

Is it just me, or does Donna Halper get more and more annoying each time she’s on the radio?

Picked up 1630 KCJJ last night.

CKLW was coming in really well last night.