In my capacity as program director for a private radio station I have occasion to make changes in the stations policy from time to time. If I make a change that gains wide approval from the listeners, I hear nothing from them. If I do something to gain their disapproval, the phone comes right off the hook and the mail flows in. I have often wondered why the human race is so slow to express approval and so reluctant to say thank you. Isn’t it true though? If we like an article in the paper we read it and forget it. If we dislike it, we write the editor. If a waiter or a clerk gives us a good service, we except it. If the service is poor we complain to the manager. If the repairs on our car are well done and satisfactory we are happy but silent. If we have a complaint we are fast to see the service manager. If we like the music a radio station is playing, all is well and good, we say nothing. If we don't like it, we write or phone the Program Director. Any person who provides a service knows of what I speak. Most folks honestly attempt to do their best. One in a million will say thank you for a job well done. Why then are we also anxious to complain when something doesn't satisfy. What a wonderful world it would be if we all learn to express our gratitude as loudly as we express our displeasure.
Wednesday 3 November 2021
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date Unknown
For those of you who do not know it, I am the program manager at a radio station. At this time of year we naturally program a great deal of Christmas music. There is one Christmas recording however we cannot use on our station, for its playing always brings phone calls and letters of complaint. That recording is Mahalia Jackson's Silent Night. If you are familiar with Miss Jackson you know that she is probably the foremost gospel singer of her time. In fact she refuses to sing anything but sacred music. Her rendition of Silent Night however departs somewhat from the simple melody we all know and love. Miss Jackson puts into the song all the deep feelings she has for this special Christmas selection and in so doing seems to offend a certain segment of the radio audience who feel the song should be sung, as they in say in music, "straight". I hasten to explain that she sings Silent Night at a very slow traditional tempo. It is just in the melody that her magnificent voice cascades over you melodic lines to give the old Carol a thrilling new dimension. Yet people phone and tell us it's a sacrilege. These same listeners will sit through a monotone reading of the same song by some tasteless performer like Bobby Vinton and never bat an eye. Simply because he adheres to the melody. Loving music as I do, I feel strongly about this, for no one sings Silent Night quite like this great lady. Do yourself and the Program Director of this station a favour of this year. Phone and ask to hear Mahalia Jackson's moving recording of Silent Night.
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown
We had an election in our city last month. There was a great deal of bitterness in the campaign since one of the candidates for mayor had been forced out of office as mayor some years ago for what was termed "gross misconduct." In the hotly contested election last month he was again returned to office. Since then our city has been the scene of picketing, street brawls and threatening violence. Constitutionally we all have the right protest, but we see developing in our quiet western city all the ingredients of mob violence. We all think the same thing. "It couldn't happen in our town". When I hear that I think back to another community who thought that way, and it wasn't so many years ago either. It was November 26, 1933, in San Jose, California when over 10,000 people took the law into their own hands, battered down the doors to the jail house and removed and lynched two convicted kidnappers. Mothers were seen hoisting their children above the mob for a glimpse of the kidnappers as their bodies hung from the trees. Such occurrences hang very heavy on the conscience of a society and even today in San Jose, no one wants to discuss that terrible night when the mob took over. I am not suggesting that such a thing will happen here in our city, but I do suggest there is great danger when two opposing factions gather in one area to "protest". Somehow a man feels less responsible when he is part of a group and believe me, it only takes one thrown rock to turn a "group" into a mob. We CAN’T let it happen here.
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Monday, October 26, 1964
Right here and now I want to go on record as saying that TV is destroying the American and Canadian family. No, it's not the westerns and the private eye shows that I take exception to, it's a family shows. It's guys like Mr. Anderson in Father Knows Best and that syrup sweet mother in the Donna Reed show. These people are giving our kids the wrong impression of what to expect from their folks. Did you ever hear Mr. Anderson scream at the kids on a wet Sunday afternoon when they are all cooped up together? Does Donna Reed ever lose her temper and haul off and belt one of the kids? As a matter of fact, did the kids ever give them reason to? Even the commercials are destroying us. You see father in his big easy chair smoking his pipe and reading the paper with a big grin on his face and mother, she's knitting a sock and beaming at the kiddies with a big grin on her face, and the four little children are playing tiddlywinks on the rug, all getting along like a batch of angels. They all have grins on their faces, and it's one great big rose coloured world because they all can't brush their teeth after eating but are protected by GL70. Never a belt in the ear, never a fistfight in the corridor, never a raised voice, never to bed without supper, and if a little dirt should be brought into the house by the kiddies, all the idiots running around singing Mr. Clean, Mr. Clean, he cleans in just a minute. Mr. Clean will clean your whole house, and everything that's in it. And of course, they all have the idiot grin on their faces. Just try talking like that. It's impossible. Can you imagine Junior sticking his head in the door and saying with the idiot grin, "Mommy, I just threw sis in the automatic washer”. And you say, "I hope you used Cheer dear so she'll come out whiter than white". And the kid says "I didn't mommy, I used Zest". For the first time in her life she'll be really clean. Yes sir, TV is destroying the home. How many sets have I got? Two of course. Why be half-safe?
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Tuesday, June 14, 1960
When I was a kid, there were two very very important words that I heard at least 20 times every day. Those two words were, "straighten up". For 10 years I heard that loud and clear call every time I set out for school, every time I went out with my best girl, every time I got within earshot of my father, "Straighten up”. My dad knew there wasn't too much he could do about my brain, but my spine he was going to look after, and I was never allowed to forget to throw my shoulders back whenever dad caught me in an upright position. Why I mention this is because I think the youngsters of today need a few "straighten ups" yelled at them, especially the young ladies. Last Sunday I just took notice, as I'm sure you have done, of the number of young ladies who sort of sag along the street in their flat heels. Their eyes are downcast and their spines bent over and so many of them have that "what's the use" look. In contrast, I saw two other young ladies on Sunday walking along 142nd St., beautifully turned out in their Sunday best and they were straight as a die. They look like a million dollars. So mothers, and fathers, let's get the kids to throw those shoulders back and straighten up those spines or we're going to have the saggiest generation of adults in history. And kids, if you are listening, just try it for a while and see what a difference it makes in how you look and how you feel. You're going to have to carry the burdens of this world on those shoulders, so let's get those spines straight up and down and begin to look like you can handle the load. I know things look black, but I'm sure they're not as bad as those bent over backs and droopy young chins would indicate.
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Date unknown
A man by the name of William Burke wrote these lines.
"I was angry with my friend,
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe.
I hid my wrath, my wrath did grow”.
You know there is a very powerful philosophy in those four lines. They can help you through difficulties in any personal relationship. How often has someone close to you, perhaps your husband or wife, let you down? How many times have you felt that a friend has betrayed you? Brooding over these hurts, whether they are real or imaginary, harbouring suspicions and grudges can corrode your outlook and take all the joy out of living. By simply telling the person involved how deeply you feel you dissipate all that poison inside you. If the person is your foe the simple act of "telling" your anger will act as a miraculous immunity to future venom. If the person is your friend, the antidote strengthens the bonds of friendship by wider-vision and understanding.
Originally broadcast on ChED radio - Thursday, February 27, 1964
I have a long looked for a satisfactory definition of “courage". I think one of the finest was uttered by an old lady in the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird". In substance she said, "courage is knowing you are beat before you start, but starting anyway". That may not be the best definition but it will certainly do until another turns up. "Courage is knowing you are beat before you start, but starting anyway". I have always felt that there is more courage in man's make up than he sometimes cares to admit. We often marvel when we pick up our papers to read of some daring feet that someone has performed in the face of great danger, or where we hear that someone has endured torture that we feel sure would crush any mortal. It is well to recognize at times like that, that the soul of man goes down hard and leaps from ruin quickly. There is, within each of us, a great well of courage. Perhaps we’ll go through our life never having to draw from that well. Perhaps tomorrow, it may be your turn to dip in for that extra bit of courage and faith you need to get over the rough spots. But fear not, the help you need is there awaiting the summons. I have always likened life to a prize fight. No matter how many times you are knocked off your feet, you still have a chance to win, if you'll just get on your feet and go one more round.
Originally broadcast on CHED radio - Monday, March 22, 1965
There is no moment a father fears more, and needlessly so, then that moment when his son discovers that Dad is just human. If you are a father you'll know what I mean. For 10 years the lad will come to you with the kites to be built, puzzles to be worked out, airplane models to be built, ships to be launched, fire crackers to be set off, bike tires to mend and geometry problems to be solved. For the first five years it never occurs to a child that Daddy is incapable of anything. The problem, whatever it may be, is turned over with the simple request, "fix it please." As the lad grows older, perhaps a bit of doubt may creep in and the problem becomes a little more complex, but the doubt is usually completely shrouded in the very positive statement, "you can fix it, can't your Dad.” (A statement of fact, not a question) and somehow Dad does come through. Perhaps he can fix it, but if he can't at least he can stall until tomorrow at which time father can have it fixed by some face saving expert. But eventually the day must come when father comes face-to-face with a problem he can't handle. It's always a Sunday when no outside help can be found. The boy is older now, and he watches over his father's shoulder as Dad goes his best against the problem. And then it happens, as it must sooner or later to all fathers. The child says, "you can't fix it can you Dad." There is no recrimination, no contempt. Again a simple statement of fact. The boy at last has found out that fathers are very human. On the day your son says "you can't fix it can you Dad" you will start to enjoy the most rewarding experience of life, father-son, man–to–man association with your lad.