OUT OF THIN AIR

“The carpentry didn’t please him.”

“Humph” Dad grunted and left. In a few minutes, Adele Coyle. his secretary, put her head in the door. “You boys better get back to work. It’s time to go on the air.”

That was the last they heard of it. I guess they made better announc- ers than carpenters. Both went on to have very successful careers in broadcasting; Syd Kennedy becoming the CBC’s Maritime Regional Director and Keith Morrow director of several CBC regions from the Prairies (Winnipeg) to Newfoundland and the Maritimes. At one time in the late 1950’s he was Director of the English networks and the Toronto area.

The next day the partitions were half up, the hammer still lying on the floor where Syd had flung it, so my father called in George Morrison to do the job. His son came with him. George Sr., was George Lloyd Morrison, and his son was christened Lloyd George Morrison. To save confusion, we called them “old George” and “young George”. They became important cogs in the organization, building everything needed from cupboards, partitions and studios to two entire transmitter build— ings. George Morrison Sr. had been “Boss carpenter” in the building of St. Dunstan’s Basilica in Charlottetown, the largest church on the Island and on many large construction jobs in the New England States.

The first day “young George” came to work, Dad remarked, “You’ve got a smart boy there.” The answer shot back, “He should be. He taught me everything I know and then I learnt a little bit myself”. He talked that way. He was crusty and cantankerous with those he didn’t approve of and open-hearted with those he liked. Some said he acted as if he was the real boss of the place. I remember when he was in his middle seventies he had an apartment on the third floor of our studio building. We always felt that if we were invited up to visit George and his wife, it was the supreme test of acceptance. I can still see old George yet with his glasses perched on the end of his nose, head forward. inspecting some detail of his work. If the detail happened to be too small, he reached into his pocket without averting his gaze, took out a second pair of glasses and put them on over the first. My father read the news himself in the early days of CFCY, but as newscasts became more frequent, regular announcers would be scheduled. Moore & McLeod Ltd. sponsored the noon news for many decades. The evening news was sponsored by Enterprise Foundry Ltd. of Sackville, N.B. for almost as long a period.

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