Did I ever tell you about the time a radio saved my life?
Well nothing so grand as jumping in front of a moving train or pulling me from the jaws of a lovely lion...No it was subtle and graceful and powerful.
I was going through a really tough time. Depression. Anxiety. Trying medications haphazardly. I only left my apartment to walk across the street to an amazing stone hearth bakery. (They made a chocolate, chocolate chip and cranberry bread...Which may deserve an honorable mention as well!) I was creating a lot of art but it was dark and painful and not how I wanted to exist, surrounded by beaten women with tears pooled in their eyes.
I was literally afraid of people but longed for contact.
(radio enters: right)
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC
I began to listen with a passion. I had the contact with people I craved without the anxiety of being face to face.
At the time there was a program called "Sad Goat", called so because the host Bill Richardson found that the phone number spelled just that...1 888 SAD GOAT.
It was appropriate, I was a depressed Capricorn.
"The show mixed music with calls and letters from listeners, which were often comic in nature, and feature interviews."
Another program I loved was Between the Covers which read contemporary novels in 15 minute pieces. I found many great novels through this program.
I listened to every program from the time I woke until I went to bed and it made me feel connected again. After a while I felt better, due to a lot of things (food, water, air, novels, parents, biology, radio) but I'll never forget when the radio was my only solace.
A great friend.
I still listen but sadly Sad Goat is gone.
Replaced by a somewhat Content Capricorn ;)...
xoxox
Well nothing so grand as jumping in front of a moving train or pulling me from the jaws of a lovely lion...No it was subtle and graceful and powerful.I was going through a really tough time. Depression. Anxiety. Trying medications haphazardly. I only left my apartment to walk across the street to an amazing stone hearth bakery. (They made a chocolate, chocolate chip and cranberry bread...Which may deserve an honorable mention as well!) I was creating a lot of art but it was dark and painful and not how I wanted to exist, surrounded by beaten women with tears pooled in their eyes.
I was literally afraid of people but longed for contact.
(radio enters: right)
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The CBC
At the time there was a program called "Sad Goat", called so because the host Bill Richardson found that the phone number spelled just that...1 888 SAD GOAT.
"The show mixed music with calls and letters from listeners, which were often comic in nature, and feature interviews."
Another program I loved was Between the Covers which read contemporary novels in 15 minute pieces. I found many great novels through this program.
I listened to every program from the time I woke until I went to bed and it made me feel connected again. After a while I felt better, due to a lot of things (food, water, air, novels, parents, biology, radio) but I'll never forget when the radio was my only solace.
A great friend.
I still listen but sadly Sad Goat is gone.
Replaced by a somewhat Content Capricorn ;)...
xoxox
4 comments:
Oh I used to love Morningside with Peter Gzowski and the Vinyl Cafe with Stuart McLean ... he'll be here this Saturday and I may go depending if there's a seat left.
I remember Sad Goat and like listening to that as well. Bill Richardson always sounded kind of melancholy :)
I love CBC radio.
I can completely see how it helped you.
What a feel good story! It's good to hear that you are content. I'm a Cappy, too, ya know. Jan 15 :)
When we had Hurrican Ike last year, the power was out for 3 weeks. I listened to the radio all the time and discovered a whole new world. It kept the boredom away. You might say it (the radio) got me through the storm.
I've been thinking I should get a tattoo :D
Pretty much the same story for me.
A few months ago, I undertook the project of completely remodeling my condo. Now I'm deep in it, living in constant filth and debris with no end in sight.
When I come back from work to work on renovations, I just listen to CBC form 1800 to midnight.
Who knew radio could be so interesting?
And I'm another CBC salvation story! When I was a young mother I lived in northern BC near Alaska and the only thing I had to listen to was CBC and Peter Gzowski...it saved my sanity. Later, it was Bill Richardson/Sad Goat and Stuart McLean. I still like lying in bed at night and listening to CBC before I go to sleep. It gave that "connected to the world" feeling that the internet can provide... before the internet existed.
btw, Bill Richardson is currently working on a musical based on Craigslist ads. It's called "do you want what I have got? a Craigslist Cantata"
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