Radio ... and Me - 9

My favourite New Years Eve activities, from the '60s through to the '80s, were: watching TV at midnight (or 1 a.m., Atlantic Time!), and listening to the radio and collecting the list of Top 100 Songs of the Year.
On TV, crowds would cheer on Times Square and Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians would play Auld Lang Syne at midnight every New Year’s Eve at News York’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel.

Radio ... and Me - 8

On Boxing Day, 1979, I worked a total of ‘12 Hours on the Air.’
It all came about this way: I was working ‘supply shifts,’ Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight, at C-H-F-X, Halifax, playing Country music.
A few weeks before Christmas vacation, I heard that the regular all-night announcer was to take some extra vacation time with family on ‘The Rock,’

Radio ... and Me ... at Christmas

There was always lots of Christmas Music at our house, and we still enjoy it, from cassettes, CDs, TV and ... of course, Radio.
While I was growing up, my Mom’s favourite was
-- Bing Crosby’s, Silent Night.
We also liked some novelty songs, such as:
-- Gene Autry’s smash hit, Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer ; and

Radio ... and Me - 7

The ‘Grand Ole Opry,’ the longest-running radio program in history, just celebrated its 85th anniversary. It was launched in late November, 1925, as the ‘WSM Barn Dance’, on Clear Channel, W-S-M, 650, Nashville.
The program is still on the air, from 6 p.m. to midnight, every Saturday night, and portions are presented on TV.

Radio ... and Me - 6

More “Country & Western” artists on local radio in the 1950s included:
-- Marty Robbins, whose songs, A White Sport Coat (And a Pink Carnation), The Story of My Life, were recorded on the major Columbia label. Years later, he would compose and perform the country classic, El Paso’;
-- Jean Shepard, who did the teary song, A Dear John Letter, (which instantly led to a variety of parodies) with Ferlin Husky;