Skip to main content

CBC and MPR: A Personal History

    For me, CBC radio started in 1979 as the only radio station my AM truck radio received clearly. I enjoyed the Canadian programming, particularly because I lived less than 25 miles from its border with the US, in northwest Minnesota.

    In 1980, I learned about hockey. Couldn't help it. Had no choice as I lived in Roseau, Minnesota, https://goroseau.com/hockey/where for many years had the most Minnesota State Hockey Championships of any town in the state. Roseau is just down the road from Warroad, Minnesota its rival. Warroad had its own 'seniors league' called The Warroad Lakers, as their city is on the shores of the Lake of the Woods. https://minnesotahockeymag.com/warroad-lakers-hockey-best/

    I was working in Roseau the day the US beat the Russians in the Olympics for the gold where everyone was gathered around TV sets, at work and at home, in the whole state of Minnesota, especially in Roseau where player Neal Broten was from, and Warroad, where player David Christian was from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1VWxS-zhcA. Talk about cultural phenomenon ... They called it "Miracle on Ice."

   In 1982, I listened to Glen Gould's "An Idea of North," as I plumbed-in my septic tank hook-up to an ancient mobile home I purchased upon a sudden separation from my wife of nine years. I was totally by myself in the woods along a north flowing creek, on maps identified as 'Mickinock Creek,' (and I spell 'Mikinaak' for accuracy. Mikinaak means 'snapping turtle' in Anishinaabemowin/Ojibwe.) far off any county road. No neighbors within a mile from any direction.

    I propped up my large stereo speakers onto the windows and played Gould's music loud into the darkness, where by that time of September night, I was appraising my sad grotesque little tin box of a home under the dim yellow light over its propane stove. Hardly heaven, except for Glenn Gould's music. His US debut with Leonard Bernstein in 1960 Conducting Bach's Keyboard Concerto No. 1 in D minor. Gould's piece begins at 18:03 of: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Nx09pigZRI 

    Such was its appeal for me in those days of no television, no cellphone, or personal computer. I did have an electric typewriter, and loads of time. I began writing in earnest about that time and so it continues to this day (I may even get good at it if I keep practicing)

    

 

Comments

Joe - Wednesday's Child said…
Here's a link toIdea of the North on spotify.
May 4, 2024 at 10:11 AM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Memorial to Jerry Solom August 24, 1945 -- July 23, 2019 No. 2

               Jerry Solom, August 24, 1945 -- July 23, 2019 This is a random image memorial post about my late friend, who died a year ago. I wrote a memoir/tribute to him in the Wannaskan Almanac on July 23, 2020. Here's the link to that: http://wannaskanalmanac.blogspot.com/2020/07/thursday-july-23-2020.html Me and Jerry with Marion in background in Stonington, Maine in 2015 prior to setting sail to Hull, MA. This is an excerpt from the story  "A Louisiana Ruse" by Steven G. Reynolds Published in 2000 in THE RAVEN: Northwest Minnesota's Original Art, History & Humor Journal      This describes the end of a 43-hour bus ride we took from Fargo, North Dakota to Slidell, Louisiana, where Jerry's boat was in dock prior to his voyage to Norway in 2000. I was there as part of the maintenance crew, accompanying Jerry, his son Terry Solom of Minneapolis, and their fr...
1 comment
Read more

The Chicken Coop Revisited

 “Just  of Scientific Mind: The Chicken Coop Revisited.” by Steven G. Reynolds Gramma Eff was not deaf, not dumb, nor was she blind. She was not daft this Gramma Eff, just of scientific mind. She wore knee boots, a long white coat, goggles, special gloves, and entered in, a study of, chickens, and their loves. “Chickens, and their loves?” you ask, incredulously, with one raised brow, as if of what she studied hence made a mockery of you now. Gramma kept her chickens clean and altho you might think it mean she washed their feet, their beak, their bod --the neighbors thought it very odd. That no one out should enter in Gramma’s little chicken pen For Gramma too, removed her clothes her boots, her coat, her goggles--those gloves, that Gramma always wore whenever she opened that very door of all her chicken coops there we’ve learned strangers there, their presence spurned Gramma found these chickens smart, they liked color, music, art. Gramma learned their innate needs went far b...
2 comments
Read more

Mac Furlong: Real Hunter

   This last Tuesday, October 1st, in Reed River, Sven saw Mac Furlong hurrying down Main Street on his way to sign up for the Big Buck Contest at Normies On Main . Mac was wearing his Reed River Bank clothes so Sven didn’t recognize him right off, Mac walking so serious like, but Sven ought to have known that about this time of year all the local deer hunters are getting real anxious. Beginning soon after the Roseau County Fair in July, hunter types begin walking about the outdoors sports departments in their local hardware stores and sporting goods shops salivating over the latest hunting gear, wearing at least one parcel of florescent orange on their person as if to let the ordinary public know that, they, in fact, are real hunters of a serious nature, although temperatures are yet in the eighties. “See here, my florescent orange insulated cap with earflaps?” “Lo and behold, my florescent-orange camo jacket with elbow padding and several important pockets?” “Check o...
3 comments
Read more