Time to curl up with Christmas radio classics
Advertisement
Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 03/12/2021 (549 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
Listening to our favourite CBC Radio broadcasts, with or without hot chocolate and cookies, has become a holiday tradition for many households. We keep listening year after year because they are just so darn good and it wouldn’t be Christmas without hearing the classic Dave Cooks the Turkey story once again.
Here are two of my favourites and one that I will listen to for the first time this year. All three can also be listened to online for free at any time.
I really enjoyed The Reindeer Santa Left Behind, produced by RTE Radio in Ireland when I heard it on CBC last year. It is 45 minutes of inventive storytelling with great sound effects and (luckily) easily understandable Irish accents. Children and adults alike are sure to be enthralled by this well produced new take on Christmas.
It is narrated documentary-style and describes how Blitzen hurt his hoof badly during a rough landing on Christmas Eve. Santa still had to deliver presents to many more children so he knocked on the door of an Irish farmhouse to ask the Mulready family if they would tend Blitzen until he could fly again.
In their cute Irish accents, the Mulready kids excitedly describe their day-to-day life with Blitzen and talk about how hard it was to keep his presence on their reindeer farm secret for almost a year. An extremely grateful Santa is interviewed, as well as the head of Astronomy Ireland, the only person to realize that Blitzen was on the farm. The documentary crew become part of the story and snippets from assorted characters are cleverly interwoven.
As you can tell, I’m a big fan of the folksy series The Vinyl Café, written and narrated by the late Stuart McLean. Like me, many Canadians religiously re-listen to the Christmas episodes every year.
Dave Cooks the Turkey really is extremely funny, chronicling the main character’s many misadventures while attempting to cook the family’s Christmas dinner. It can be found on YouTube, along with a couple of other Christmas gems from The Vinyl Café.
Alan Maitland’s narration of The Shepherd has aired on CBC Radio almost every Christmas Eve since 1979. Written by Frederick Forsyth, it tells the story of a young RAF pilot whose instruments fail as he is flying back to England from West Germany on Christmas eve 1957. Lost and low on fuel, he is guided to safety by a mysterious plane and the haunting tale epitomizes the meaning of Christmas for many.
This version is on YouTube and an innovative binaural 2016 adaption by Amber Barnfather for BBC Radio with a choir and authentic sound effects that has won international awards can be found by googling Between the Ears: The Shepherd.
Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com
Anne Hawe
West End community correspondent
Anne Hawe is a community correspondent for the West End. She can be reached at annie_hawe@hotmail.com