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Radio, Fish And Chips And Rodney |
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Written by Alex J. Walling
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Monday, 14 August 2006 |
 What an interesting month. After many years of not doing one, I got a chance to host an open line show filling in for a month for Rick ‘Hotline’ Howe on 92/CJCH. While I did a TV talk show for Eastlink TV a few years back (The Newsmakers with Alex J.) there is something special and unique about ‘live radio’ and never knowing who is one the other end of the line.
While there is a seven-second delay with the callers, one is usually on their own and we have to re-act to the questions, callers or guest. While some may not like that kind of challenge, I for one love it.
It also puts in perspective the amount of work done by any host be it Rick Howe, Andrew Krystal or Tom Young. They put in hours to prepare for the 2 or 3 hour program. Most of these guys may only appear to work ‘2.5 – 3hrs’ per day, on air, but it’s a lot more than that.
I can’t speak for Krystal and Young but I know Howe hits the CJCH newsroom around 6 in the morning and doesn’t go on air until 10am so you are looking at a minimum of three hours in preparation such as reading newspapers, lining up topics and questions and trying to contact guests either via the phone, called phone-outs, or get them into the studio.
When Howe asked me to fill in back in April I had no problem with it but did have a slight concern about the summer season and the new hours of 9-11 instead of the usual 10am-1pm. This was the first summer season in a decade if not more, that CJCH had a hotline. Howe’s open line show usually shuts down just before the July 1st weekend and resumes late in August.
I know, working in the MITV/Global newsroom, that newsgathering in the summertime can be a bummer. The country (Parliament Hill) is closed, so is the Legislative Assembly (Province House) and Halifax City Council meets not weekly but it seems once a month. And most of the time politicians and politics is the staple of such programming so not having that recourse is a concern. Also trying to reach these people when they are out of town makes getting ‘TV pics” almost impossible.
But with radio as long as you can dial the phone you can usually get a guest.
Maybe I got lucky or perhaps since Halifax is a growing area of nearly 400 thousand there is enough summertime news to go around.
There was plenty. I must have caught a break as the Legislature, as a result of the Sunday Shopping thing, didn’t close until mid-July. Imagine that, making the politicians work during the summer months?
And there were plenty of topics from the never ending Sunday Shopping to the Middle East to the regulating the price of gas and more.
This is the eighth station that I have done an open line show on over the years and a far cry from my first one in 1969 in Woodstock, Ontario at the Big Ox. That's what we called the station, CKOX, a 1000 watt A.M. powerhouse that served Oxford County (Dairy capital of Ontario) in southern Ontario. That show had one single line into the control room for the open line show, called ‘Talk of the Town’ (I think every small market open line show is called that).
When a caller phoned, I picked it up and talked to them and then when they finished we plugged, and plugged and plugged the hot line phone number and hoped if not prayed for a call. If/when the call came; we went to commercials, put the caller on hold and continued the show.
If there was no call, well, we….’learned how to ad-lib’. This so called ‘gift of gab’ was developed.
That was not a problem this summer. In the CJCH open line booth there are no less than 6-7 lines for the show including one or two for toll free, out of town callers. On several occasions all the lines were in use.
The biggest change in doing an open line these days as opposed to ‘yesteryear’ is the email factor.
Many callers don’t want to chat or defend a position but via the email they can simply ask the host or guest a single question or two. Many now use this method to ‘chat with the host’.
It seemed that 15-20 years ago every area had an open line show. I know CJCB in Cape Breton had one with Dave Wilson as the host and news director of the station. Now Dave is an MLA for the Liberals. I thought he did a great job when I heard him.
CKDH in Amherst had ‘Talk of the Town’ with Fred Arenberg. Fred owned part of the station and did the one hour program each morning (Mon-Fri). Fred passed away a few years ago and so did the talk show. It may be a coincidence that both CKDH and CJCB, were bought out by Maritime Broadcasting (MBS) and shortly afterwards the open line shows stopped.
It’s ironic because CHNS, the flagship of MBS, is where open line radio started in the Maritimes with the original ‘Iron Mike’ as in Mike MacNeil.
Yvon Colbert is doing the open line show for this week and Rick Howe returns for his 10th year Monday August 21st.
I’ve always wanted to be a food critic. Now there is a new site where you can be such and its called Halifaxbeat.com (www.halifaxbeat.com ). I had the Coast food critic Liz Feltham on the open line show and she raved about “Fredie’s fantastic Fishhouse” in Tantallon. Since I like, fish and chips I went to see for myself.
I went once and liked it. Came back and like it some more and came back a third time, all within a 4 day period with my wife, and she liked it.
The best way to get there is simple. Take the 103, get of at the Tantallon exit. You are looking at the area that has Superstore, Irving etc. You want the exit that takes you to Peggy’s Cove. It’s right at the Swallows restaurant (former 4 Gulls). Get on that road to Peggy’s Cove and it’s around 3-4 minutes away on the right hand side.
Get ready for something that seems to be lacking or is in a dying art form and that is cheerful, friendly, customer service.
In my trips I met Claudette, the mother who makes the fish. Yvonne, a Newfoundlander, Loraine, one of the owners and the other owner Tammy Fredericks.
They smile at you. They are polite, friendly and will ring their bell when you either leave a tip or when your food is ready.
Then if time permits Tammy will come to your table and ask you how the food is.
And the fish is grrrrrrrrrrrrrreat. It’s my discovery of the summer. You can call them at 826-1468.
Just when it seems things can’t get any worse it has for the number one newsmaker in the province, Premier Rodney MacDonald. Everything he has touched has turned too lead. Gas regulations have backfired for him, he seems to be running away from the Sunday Shopping issue, and now he is having personal problems with his wife and may be separating.
There’s a line between journalism and a persons private life and I’m aware of it but this is as close as it gets. I will not make a comment on what I see as a sad situation, as any potential or possible marriage breakup is. But he did bring in his wife and child into the election campaign with them at his side and wasn’t he the guy who had the label, or slogan that the PC’s were “All about families”? |
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