There was nothing like BNW for going to sleep by, you’d be lulled nearly to sleep by some lull in a 10 minute long instrumental sound painting only to be woken up violently when the song switched to loud chaotic noise. This happened about once a night or so. – posted by Space Coyote at 5:40 AM on February 2, 2007
I really loved growing up next to Canada. Weekends were meant for raiding Windsor’s Devonshire Mall for music, Beaver Canoe sweatshirts and getting better dim sum than you can get in Detroit. Weekend nights brought the promise of underage drinking and exotic foreign boys (suck it, border patrol, you’ll never find me now!).
So when the Day of All Things Canadian was proposed, I just had to write something. I have always wanted to bore tell everyone everything I ever could about my most favorite-est radio shows ever, Brave New Waves and its sister show Nightlines (which was more like the fabled Canadian girlfriend). Whenever possible, midnight – 4:00AM was solely dedicated to them. Both shows have now sadly gone on to greener pastures due to a huge CBC Radio 2 reorganization in 2007 but they are dearly missed, I think, by more than a few people. Brave New Waves began in 1984 but I got around to it by about 1987, when the host was (and still is) my most favorite Canadian ever, Brent Bambury.
The format was pretty simple: Brent would begin a short, witty intro followed by quite a few college radio-friendly underground songs by groups like The Pastels, The Breeders or The Smugglers. Then about 50 minutes into the show, there would be a noticeable decline into just pure underground noise soundscapes. At this point, Brent would introduce all kinds of artists that sometimes I would know or not. One night would be Mongolian steppe throat calling, one night would be a profile on Public Enemy or John Zorn, another, Einstürzende Neubauten. Usually the music ranged from awesome to annoying to sometimes just plain “What the fresh hell is this?” There would usually be some type of interview as well. The worst guest I had ever experienced was Andrew Eldritch (of revered goth group, Sisters of Mercy) who was basically a huge dick. At one point, he ended up telling Brent to fuck off after getting pretty argumentative. Normally, no matter however horrible the guest was, Brent would always find something gracious afterwards to say in wrap-up. This time, however, the lack of any wrap-up was telling.
Nightlines (1982-1997) was hosted by an artist named David Wisdom when I started listening. Here is an excerpt from a great interview from a guy who worked at the CBC for awhile:
You took over the show in 1987. Do you recall the reaction around the CBC when those shows started in ‘84?
Both started fundamentally at the same time. Augusta LaPaix was the first Brave New Waves host and Ron Robinson was the host of Night Lines for the first one or two seasons, then it was Ralph Benmurgui. There was — and still is — resistance to the fact that there is such a thing as what they consider pop music on the CBC. There are still producers here who think it’s killing the CBC and don’t understand why it’s on. Brave New Waves and to a lesser degree Night Lines was considered just way, way out there. Brave New Waves got away with it earlier because they had a certain academic cachet to them. They played what was considered art music, electro-acoustic stuff. It had a more serious tone to it. With Night Lines, I wasn’t sure what to do at the beginning. I knew I had to play a lot of Canadian music, and I didn’t know a whole lot about Canadian music, so I went out and started listening to anything Canadian I could find. I tried for the first two or three seasons to please everyone, and then I figured to hell with them — I’m just going to play the music I really like.
As with Brave New Waves, it’s hard to sum up 15 or more years of show in a few lines but Nightlines had its own certain quirkiness. David, who had his own extensive vinyl singles collection, each weekend would play one single in alphabetical order from A-Z. This lasted for about nine years. There were also the various personalities associated with the show, one of the most famous being Nardwuar the Human Serviette (to which he has legally changed his name). Nardwuar may not be for all people but he is distinctive for his grating voice and forward personality. A member of the group The Evaporators, he also is a celebrity interviewer who still appears from time to time on CBC Radio 3 (the subsequent Canadian indie offshoot of Radio 2) and MuchMusic. In order to pare down the requests for music to the show, David instituted a “Skill-Testing Question of the Week” which callers-in would have to answer. Usually it would be something like, “What would you do if you had to be in a talent show?” Listeners would also contribute their own “Hour of Power”, an hour of programming that they would script or host live. Or, there would be the Guilty Pleasures requests, songs that listeners are ashamed to admit they love and request.
But whatever they played, you learned. You learned an awful lot. About everything. And that’s how even if you thought you knew about music, you found out you didn’t. Other than maybe John Peel, I don’t know of any other radio programs that were so epic.
Eventually I had to move out of CBC range and there was much, much sadness. This was before internet radio so at the time, there was no hope of hearing them unless I taped them, which is what I did. Soon, I had mounds and mounds of cassettes. When I was finally able to listen via web, I have to admit, somehow it lost something for me. By then, Nightlines had long been finished and Brent had been replaced by an equally knowledgeable Patti Schmidt but it didn’t have the same familiarity. Also, CBC had been messing with the format of the show because they never saw how it fit into their classical day lineup anyways, which for me is rather sad. Both shows were such a living dictionary of non-mass market radio and it’s such a shame that they aren’t around anymore, nor are the old episodes. I’m actually pretty surprised by how much information is NOT out there other than other people doing some reminiscing.
So, The Day of All Things Canadian has been a great opportunity for going back and revisiting some good memories and it has been great fun writing this. I’m going to continue keeping my fingers crossed that maybe, just maybe!, CBC will think about bringing BNW back for a new generation. Why the hell not? They did it for Degrassi.
I’ll end here with a video one of my favorite bands Brent introduced me to in the wee hours of the morning. I had the privilege of seeing them decades ago in downtown Detroit, in a space in one of the rundown neighborhoods by Tiger Stadium. Have never had the opportunity since.
