“Where The Boys Meet!”

Switzerland, Marguerite and Raoul Reymond, who sang in French a program of classical music. They would later be among my father and mother’s dearest friends. The Jubilee Celebrations had made Dad realize just how much scope he had if he could pick up short wave transmission. So throughout the rest of 1928, there were many rebroadcasts from Eindhoven, Holland; Nausen, Germany; and from the Eiffel Tower in Paris. Events closer to home were also broadcast by remote control like the anniversary church services of a church in Westville, Nova Scotia.

There was a long tradition on the Island of local talent expressing itself at parties, concerts, and dances in the community halls. A com- munity would organize its best talent and visit a neighbouring hall. These events were known as “times”. People were very proud of their community, and there was a fair bit of competition. When radio came in, it was a source of pride if someone from one’s community was on the air. In a sense, early CFCY broadcasting was like one great big Island hall. People felt free to drop in off the street and entertain a little, lending a party atmosphere to the broadcasts.

Take Frank “Duck” Acorn, for example, who used to broadcast at the noon hour from great George Street along with his friend Bill MacEachern. It seems that so many people in those years made a lot of music together, spontaneously. “Duck” learned to play from a man named Ed Garnhum who was an inveterate ukulele player. Ed worked for Henderson and Cudmore, the haberdashery. Apparently, Ed never stopped playing, even while working. They say that when he would be carrying parcels out of the store to deliver, he would have the uke slung over his back, and as soon as he got rid of the parcels, he’d play his ukulele as he walked along the street back to the store.

“Duck” Acorn’s father owned a restaurant on Great George Street. Its slogan was “Where the Boys Meet!” and indeed they did—to make music. There was Holly Warren and his brother Monty, Percy Steele, Ed Acorn and his two brothers, and Bill MacEachern, who was a superb mouth organist and singer. All of them were avid musicians, and they had what they called their “orchestra” which was an assortment of guitars, banjos, ukes, fiddles, mouth organs, and, of course, voice. Dad Would get Tony Shelfoon to go down to the restaurant to put them on a telephone line to the transmitter and they would go over the air extemporaneously. Everybody knew them and loved them.

Later when Dad was at Great George Street, CFCY used to join the American Relay League DX program after midnight as a means

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