GREAT SCOTT! 40 Years Behind A Mike - By Richard (Dick Scott) Pratz
CHAPTER: The Great White North (Continued)
My “Nightfall” program consisted entirely of the lightest of the light classics. The “Rhapsody” show delved a bit into the heavier stuff, and “Sunday Concert” was ultra-heavy featuring entire symphonies. The fan mail I received from those classical years at CKSO-FM was the most gratifying I was privileged to open. It came from professors at Sudbury’s Laurentian University, other big city radio announcers from the U.S. and Canada vacationing in the area, composers, teachers and musicians ... but mainly from everyday folks who learned to love the classics because of me, a fact I am very proud of to this day. My choice of music was just that - my choice. In news, I was able to gauge my listeners tastes as to what stories I should air ... and it was the same with the music I played. Letter after letter said they heartily approved not only of my choice of music but my informative words. One letter told how it was never appropriate to compare programs “but years ago I was an avid listener to ‘Music Until Dawn’ out of New York and Chicago sponsored by American Airlines. They featured a commentator named Jay Andres who until your program I accepted as the standard of excellence. In my opinion, one must now measure others against your performance!” I wrote this person back because of his reference to Jay Andres and told the writer I had listened to Jay during my teen years and perhaps some of what I heard rubbed off on me. I also mentioned that meeting Mr. Andres while I was a pageboy at CBS was a distinct honour for me. Another letter from Al Ross at the U.S. Information Agency’s “Voice of America” said, “While on a fishing vacation in Ontario I was delighted to discover that ‘good radio’ still exists. I was particularly impressed with your semi-informal style instead of the usual pontificating. You are very knowledgeable and very easy to listen to. I wish that program directors from radio stations in the United States could be sent to Sudbury to see how it’s done!” Another from an Ohio man who vacationed every summer on the French River near North Bay, Ontario - “Your presentation is first class and worthy of any station anywhere. I am from California, New Mexico and Ohio and know of no one who has a better way of handling your type of program than you do. You make good music interesting.” Another vacationer from Cleveland wrote - “I’ve had many years of listening experience with our own fine arts station (WCLV-FM 95.5) which I consider to be the best in North America. I must say, however, that you have a refreshing, unselfconscious approach to classical music. You are obviously quite knowledgeable, yet I felt neither embarrassed nor patronized by the evidences of your knowledge. Rather, I was quite caught up in the obvious joy you take in your work.”
Still another letter said, “The overall approach you take to music is what my wife and I appreciate most about your programs. You manage to have a sense of humour plus a wealth of knowledge about musicians and their music which you present without a lot of heavy and phony pedantry. Your experience with the name of “Bernstein” was a relief from the somber correctness of so many other radio people. You convey a human quality that we find make listening to your programs very satisfactory.” Some of the most gratifying mail came from elementary school children and high school teenagers who did their homework while listening. Grandmothers in their 80s also wrote to say they knitted as they listened, while university classical music fans wrote and admitted they felt it was now safe to come out of their ‘closets’. The mail gave me great fulfillment. Most letters requested a specific selection and after reading some on the air to which I added self-deprecating remarks, I answered their requests. Some requests I couldn’t play because we didn’t have the specific recordings, but Eileen Forbom always placed an order for what we didn’t own and the FM classical music library grew immensely during my years there. Twenty-six years later, I still communicate with Eileen and together we remember those fun times. Those classical music years at CKSO-FM were the most gratifying of my four-decade career in broadcasting. All the heartwarming cards and letters gave me adulation I probably didn’t deserve and when it came time for me to move on in 1974, the outpouring of grief was the most touching thing I experienced in this business. One listener wrote, “Enjoying your Sunday Concert tonight, my pleasure was dampened by disappointment at the announcement of your leaving. Your program selections, accompanied by authoritative comment and description so unobtrusively and pleasantly given, have made Sunday Concert a very satisfying part of my life. CKSO will be hard put to maintain the prestige you have given all your programs but I hope they will spare no effort. With appreciation of your cultural contribution to the Nickel Belt and best wishes for the future, Sincerely, Donald Dunbar.” I should point out, however, that not all the fan mail was glowing and I took special care to read the critical offerings on the air as well. It made for great radio and was all grist for the mill!I once played Jean Sibelius’ eloquent chorale from his popular symphonic poem “Finlandia” (1900) and told how it was strongly associated with the Finnish independence movement to free Finland from Russia. I had no idea at the time what a strong Finnish presence there was in Sudbury. I received letters and phone calls from the Finnish community and before I knew it, I became closely associated with them. I appeared at many of their functions and emceed appearances by the Sudbury Finnish Male Choir. I devoted entire programs to their music and they sometimes even furnished me with some of their recordings. It was a most pleasant association and I grew to embrace the Finnish community wholly. To remain impartial, however, I also devoted entire shows to the music of Russia. Theme shows such as this were my favourites. One annual offering I always enjoyed was a 60-minute taped program aired on Christmas Eve. The newspaper ad read - “7pm, Christmas Eve with the Scott Family. Classical director at CKSO-FM Radio, Richard Scott, presents an hour-long special with his wife, two children and mother.” (Note how I was known as Dick Scott on AM radio and television, but Richard Scott on FM) My mother often came for Christmas visits and I would drag her kicking and screaming to the studios to be part of a program I scripted for my entire family interlaced with appropriate seasonal music and family stories. I still have tapes of those programs and they are the only recordings I have of my mother’s voice. For a newsman who had constant access to tape recorders and microphones, I sure let the ball drop when it came to recording my own family! I had many opportunities, but never did so much to my regret.
