Saturday, December 25, 2010
The Sound of Christmas (1970)
It is certainly a curious thing that I have fallen into the area of Classic Television moderation. I grew up long after most of these shows first aired to be sure, but I also grew up in a part of the world in which I only had access to two television stations (cry me a river). More than that, the isolated area in which I lived could only receive one radio station clearly; the often-unlistenable AM pablum of CKQR.
Well, it was really only during the daytime that we could hear just the one station. At night when the AM frequencies were boosted, we received literally thousands of radio stations, as they funneled their way into our forested valley and echoed off the mountains all night long. Some far-off stations would appear with amazing clarity for only a minute before they would disappear forever... along with their promise of a world wider and grander than anything I had ever known before.
CKQR had no disc jockey on Christmas Day. Nor did it air any commercials. What it had instead was generic sounding Christmas lounge music. This LP, The Sound of Christmas by The Living Strings was exactly the kind of thing you would hear on CKQR all day long. I especially recall the pops and crackles of the worn LPs they'd broadcast, naturally the same albums year after year after year. Here we have forty-three minutes of crackly Christmas muzak that doesn't really fill me with great Christmas memories so much as just a general, ethereal, nostalgia for something very vague. Regardless, such vague nostalgia has shaped me into something very concrete as a grown-up and for that I am quite happy. I will be even happier when time machine technology is perfected.
A Merry Christmas to all of my mostly-anonymous readers/viewers from your mostly anonymous writer/YouTube embedder.
BONUS:
WGR-AM Radio - Christmas Day - (1973)
What were drunken loners in Buffalo listening to on Christmas morning in 1973? Find out from WGR-AM here.
Hollywood Santa Parade (1960)
Took place the week after Thanksgiving, but it is the Christmas parade. Confusing.
Friday, December 24, 2010
Santa Claus (1959)
One of the most remarkable Christmas films ever made. I saw this for the first time on television years ago, it wasn't dubbed or subtitled, but I was fascinated by it from beginning to end.
The CBS Mystery Theater (1980)
WJKW Hour Long Christmas Broadcast (1977)
Nothing says Christmas like a) Lawrence Welk's constipation and b) The search for murderers - and I must say that 9:20-10:30 is just the awkward best.
CFUN-AM Radio Aircheck (December 24, 1976)
What were folks driving around in their Datsuns listening to on the radio in Vancouver on Christmas Eve 1976? Find out here. (if you are too impatient to click - the answer is they were listening to some obnoxious jerk).
Monitor - Christmas Episode (1961)
Monitor ran for twenty years on NBC Radio during the point in which the medium of radio was considered dead as far as non-recorded music programming was concerned. You may recall that this program was mentioned in my interview with Gary Owens. Monitor was the brainchild of NBC head Pat Weaver (brother of Doodles; uncle of Sigourney) who also invented The Tonight Show and The Today Show. Listen here.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
The Gary Owens Christmas Outtake (1975)
You may recall that I spoke to Gary Owens about this fun Christmas outtake from a series of radio PSA's he was recording for KMPC. Read one of the best things that hit the site this year - an interview wth Gary Owens. Listen to the outtake here.
Duffy's Tavern - Christmas Episode (1948)
Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Tuesday, December 21, 2010
Wide World of Sports - Bowling Christmas PSA Outtakes (1974)
It's not often that the greatest thing of all time has its "embedding disabled by request." But this is one of those instances, and I don't think this site will be offering a better X-Mas clip this year than this one. GO WATCH HERE.
okay, it's not real, but it's still pretty funny. To make up for it, something real that I can't embed that features a similar character. A Jackie Gleason Christmas Special from 1977.
Monday, December 20, 2010
CHUM 1050 AM Radio Christmas Aircheck (December 23, 1970)
What would have you heard had you switched on the radio to 1050 AM in Toronto a couple days before Christmas in 1970? Find out here.
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