Homebodies - CBC and me, a long term relationship

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Published on Saturday, November 26, 2016

By Rita Friesen

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We have long term relationship, CBC and me. Television came to our home in the 1950s. The late ‘50s, but I remember the excitement of Hockey Night in Canada, with the young men of the neighbourhood stopping in on a Saturday night and it wasn’t to come courting! Cartoons, Hitchcock, Lawrence Welk and of course, the station’s emblem when it went off air. I don’t know exactly when I began listening to CBC Radio. It is my favourite station for long road trips. It was the one station that my husband, daughter and I could all agree on during long road trips the years we home schooled. 

What brought this topic to mind was, of course, listening to the radio while driving home. A great-nephew of Julia Childs was being interviewed. And just today I watched a video clip on Facebook posted by one of my daughter’s on her first day attending the Cordon Bleu Culinary school in Paris. A new adventure. Listening and remembering the many times I have enjoyed the company of CBC while travelling, several came to mind.

There was the time I was returning from a ten day retreat in St. Albert. It was a learning retreat and we received our certificates around noon, had lunch and headed home. My fellow classmates were concerned that I was driving a fairly long distance by myself and elicited a promise from me that I would stop for the night, not go the distance in one sitting. I planned to comply. Full of energy by the time I reached Saskatoon, I thought I would stop at Foam Lake. Still not tired. So I kept on driving. It was a still winter’s night, the moon was full and the music hours were hosted by Randy Bachman. Humming along, singing along, the miles flew by. And suddenly I was at the Manitoba border. No need to pause, I had been careful to fill with fuel just before midnight and the road was clear, the company exceptional and home my goal.

Sunday afternoon driving to family gatherings, Tapestry provided food for thought. There was the afternoon that John O’Donohue was interviewed. I have always loved a lilting Irish accent and I had been privileged to hear him in person in Victoria. Listening to him recount the mystery of our shared faith made travel time a blessing. ‘In the beginning was the silence. Everywhere primal silence reigned… until through a crevice in the silence the sounds and shapes of things began to emerge.’

I can not think CBC without thinking Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Café. Dave and Morley are old friends, sharing humanity with all of us. Allowing us to laugh with and at ourselves as we catch glimpses of self as we follow their lives.

All that from a quiet ride home. From Julia Childs, to Stuart McLean. From reverence silence to raucous laughter. Daily living.