Page 84 - A Visit with Ray "Mac" MacDonald: In Honour of the 50th Year of CJFX Radio

ISSUE : Issue 64

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1993/8/1

(Who dictated what stories you used?) Well, nobody dictated, as much as you just followed the trend that was considered news. Although I think CJFX had a much more generous policy then because we be? lieve in the St. F. X. philosophy of the whole man, the whole person. In other words, we didn't dwell on the dark side that is in all of us. We got criticized for that. You get talk about suppressing and all of this sort of thing. But what people forget is, there's an old Gaelic proverb that says, "If the best person's sins were written on their foreheads, they would have to pull their caps down over their eyes!" So many people who want all the news all the time unless their brother-in-law or their son or daugh? ter is involved. It's a very difficult job.... I found that a struggle and I was glad when (that part of) the job ended. I was never interested in (television). I could see where television chewed people up. It was the moth around the flame and there was an awful lot of competing there. At least in those years it was that way. Even to hold your position you had to be tough. You had to be good but you also had to watch your back. No, I didn't want to get into that. Besides I like to do my show in my slippers. My pyjamas even.... (When you came to Antigonish, you were a newsman. You didn't have your own show.) That's right. I didn't even see Clyde Nunn right away. It was probably a month and 341 Welton St., Sydney SERVING ALL OF CAPE BRETON PRODUCTS LTD. Phone:539-4111 • No structural changes • No more painting • Clean from inside FREE ESTIMATES Centre for International Studies • DE60UDCE cmrnt • Over 3000 Books, Magazines & Periodicals on • Development • Environment • Economic • Other Critical International issues ~ Available Throughout Cape Breton Phone 562-6090 Or Visit Us at 390 Charlotte Street 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Friday COFFEE-VIDEOS PHOTOCOPYING For SCHOOL & COMMUNITY PROGRAMS call 929-2063 or 539-5300 ext. 267 two months, maybe even longer before I got to see him. I would say at the time that it wasn't as tight a ship as the one I had come from in Bathurst. It had a much more laid-back approach and, you know, they had a fairly extensive Celtic library at the time. They had a lot of Irish music from overseas like Jimmy Shand and all those accordion bands and, of course, they had all the fiddle stuff. They were very strong on that, but they were very selec? tive on the other stuff. We didn't play everything that came in. I'm not saying that it was censorship, but we didn't think it was worthy of anybody and it cer- 'tainly wasn't the music of the area. So it was pr.obably eliminated for that reason. But as for working conditions, it wasn't a large staff. Clyde said when he hired me that a person should be able to do a lit? tle bit of everything and that turned out to be true because I ended up on the morn? ing show. Even with the news, I ended up with a show on Saturday morning somewhere along the line. But it was a good staff and we liked each other, and we thought we were doing something and we had the sense that we were a little bit different up and down the dial. Maybe it was snobbishness, I don't know--but we felt we didn't do things like everybody else did. The li? cense was issued in wartime and that being said, there were a lot of restrictions. And I think there was some association with St. F. X. University, otherwise the license would not have been issued. And I think what happened was an agreement to have certain types of programs and, you know, like "The People's School" and "Life in These Maritimes," and there was an at? tempt to play a lot of local talent-- violins and Gaelic singing, perhaps the Mount St. Bernard Choir and the Marion Boy's Choir. (When you came here was there much "live" entertainment?) Whale Cruisers Ltd. CHETICAMP Scenic 3-Hour Boat Tours * June to October 3 Times a Day In July & August Contact Capt. _ Bill Crawford, • Cheticamp Boat Tours Box 10, Grand Etang, Nova Scotia BOEILO (902)224-3376 THxlixc JLuI. Computerized Wheel Balancing • Complete Road Service 539-5670 265 PRINCE ST. • SYDNEY IPGoodrich bhunswick-

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