Happy 75th to the People's Radio Network

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation is celebrating its seventy-fifth anniversary, and it is time to remember some of the programs and performers who have popped out of our radio speakers over the decades.

Knock knock!

"Who's there?"

"It's the Happy Gang."

"Well--come ooonn in!"

"Keep happy with the Happy Gang,

Keep happy, start each day with a bang!

A happy Thursday to you 

From the boys and Miss Stokes--

We hope you like our music

And our songs and our jokes,

Yuk yuk yuk yuk."

And we remember with fondness the stories of "Just Mary;" Andrew Allan's Stage series (radio drama, whether from Toronto or Winnipeg, was wonderful, and Len Peterson of Regina wrote great radio plays); "Harmony House" and "The Burns Chuckwagon" from Vancouver, produced by Bill Bellman; Bob Smith's "Hot Air;" and Lorne Green's ne plus ultra eight o'clock newscasts. 

Some say it was the railway that united Canada, and they may be right. But in another way, what drew this country together, in a shared consciousness, was the CBC.