Radio ... and Me - 12

Folk music has always been an integral part of every culture and every society in history. From early days, “traveling troubadours” related the peoples’ stories in song, accompanied by a lute, a harp, a drum or a guitar.
Sometimes, the songs told of heroes, or of love and courtship, with many a “hey, nonny, nonny;”

Radio ... and Me -11

Local small-market radio stations could not ignore the rising tide of rock ‘n’ roll music, so they began taking their first, tentative steps to present the new sounds. And, with that, came a new crop of radio announcers, now called ‘disc jockeys.’
On the local stations which I listened to, country music still ruled in the mornings, with orchestra, Broadway or ‘standards’ played through the

Radio ... and Me - 10

By the mid ‘50s, new radio formats had to be adopted and tweaked, all due to the spread of rock ‘n’ roll.
The first major change, especially in big market stations, was the invention of the hour-long ‘Block Program,’ which featured a 5-minute News / Weather / Sport report, usually on the top of the hour, followed by the music, with an ad-libbing, fast-talking 'disc jockey'

‘King Elvis’ -- R.I.P.

Today, Elvis Presley would be marking his 76th birthday.
He came from the small town of Tupelo, Mississippi, and there are many accounts of his strong devotion to his mother. In fact, his legendary first recording at ‘Sun’ Records in Memphis was a gift for her.
As a young singer, he worked hard to achieve his meteoric rise to fame, first in the South and later internationally. It was said that here was a ‘white singer who could sing black songs.’

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