The Great North Wind began to blow on CIUT on June 13, 1988 under the name 'Mariposa Radio Folkwaves'. Since then there have been hundreds of programs devoted to exploring the folk-culture of Canada through its incredible musical traditions. The program delves into the vast pool of artists that contribute to our cultural heritage. We bring back the grey hairs, bring on the long hairs and those who've lost their hair along the way. Singers, songwriters, authors, players, folklorists and collectors of folklore are featured. Even the bookers and grand pubahs. On Thursday, March 12 we began broadcasting a two hour program after nearly 10 years of one hour Monday shows.Finally, on June 18, 1999, after 11 years and two weeks The Great North Wind signed off the CIUT airwaves for the very last time.
 

I was seeking something alternative in nature. I wanted to hear music made by Canadians and I didn't care what style it was, what tradition it came from: as long as it was for and about our people. We need to hear ourselves on our so-called 'public airwaves' and yet there was nothing much to celebrate; our airwaves were in the hands of non-Canadian program direction units programming mostly American music that appeals to the lowest common denominator: ratings (which =s money). For so long I had been listening to the wise words of Stompin' Tom Conners so I set about doing something about it myself. Why just whine and complain?

CIUT had just lost three poorly produced folk shows and CKLN, our cousin station at Ryerson University, had just lost a good one: Acoustic Espionage with Tim Harrison. Steve Pritchard was doing a good job with his Radio Boogie program on 'LN and is still there today at his 10 pm Wednesday time-slot. And Joe Lewis was playing clean folk music - the same thing every week; I wanted to hear something different and exciting.

I approached the CIUT programming committee and was immediately embraced and put on the air. The original idea was to get Mariposa its own folk radio program that would let people know what the Foundation was doing. We would also highlight artists that would be performing at the festival as well as anything else that would fit into Mariposa's mandate. My time-slot would be Monday nights at 10 and I would co-host the program with Mariposa's 'Axleman' John MacIntyre.

John dropped out, scared shitless after flopping through a few shows. That left it entirely on my lap and I wasn't sure if I could carry it through. I had to produce, engineer, interview and program a weekly hour of programming! But somehow I thrived on the challenge and the program survived and still does to this day.

In September of 1993 the program was moved to its second parking spot:  8 p.m. on Monday evenings.

In March, 1998, The GNW expanded to a two hour format on Thursday nights at 8 where it remained until June 18, 1999, the night of the final broadcast.

If I had to pick a few of the all-time most important features it would have to start with my 1989 live-to-air telephone interview with Stompin' Tom Connors. It was to be the second media interview with the man who had been in self-imposed exile from the music scene for 12 years, protesting the lack of Canadian content on our airwaves. (Gzowski got him just before I did for Morningside).

Another was my recent telephone interview with Stevedore Steve from Saint John, NB. I had gently encouraged him over the years to get back into the recording business, convincing him that things could be done differently now.

Likewise, the release of Glen Reid's new CD 'Heritage River' was most gratifying for much the same reason. Rick Fielding and I had been encouraging him for years to get back into music and this was the result!

The Save the Rails campaign was great! And so was the Walter Ostanek's 35th Anniversary (in show biz) gala at Lulu's in Kitchener featuring the great Frankie Yankovik. The Eleanor and Graham Townsend show was a blast too. And how about our 5 hour folk extravaganza from the basement of St. Vladimir's church which saw the likes of Toronto's finest folk artists!

The show that scared me shitless the most: The Bruce Cockburn appearance which co-incided with my last Monday night broadcast in March, 1998. Once the theme music started I felt just fine.

In the past couple of years of I became close with Graham Townsend. When I learned that he had terminal cancer in the summer of 1998 I dedicated the fiddle spot, to open the program, to music made by him. He passed away on December 3 just a week prior to being awarded the Golden Porcupine.

I'm probably one of the luckiest people! Although I make no money doing my show every week, I have a hell of a lot of fun doing it. It's been a great gig!.

Over the years I've met some of the nicest people in the music scene. As well, I've been able to see some of the greats play live right before me eyes, which is always a blast: best seats in the house for free. I've had some amazing shows, some I'd rather like to forget, and others that have been indispensable. With each program my world grows into another dimension. I have learned so much from the people I've interviewed and the things I've needed to research. It made me realize that "the more you know, the more there is to know" and that's what drives me onward.

I am from the North, from the Porcupine region of Ontario, the mining community of Timmins. My family were in the lumber business and I spent a lot of time in the bush, going to the lumber camps, watching logs floating down the Mattagami River, and hanging around the saw mill. The sweet smell of freshly cut sawdust and chips wafting out of the big burner filled my mind. I was told many stories by the men and women who worked the bush, the mill, and the office, about the pioneering days of the Porcupine.

The skyline was always trees and the headframes of the mines: The Hollinger, MacIntyre, Dome, Preston, Paymaster, Pamour, Aunor, Delnite, Buffalo Ankrite, The Jupiter, The Carium Mine. The town of Schumacher is just a mile east of Timmins; South Porcupine and the Golden City (Porcupine) just 5 miles further.

When I was 12 the young, a tall itinerant folksinger, Tom Connors, started his playing career in the Skyway Room at the Maple Leaf Hotel. He would soon have his own radio program broadcast over the local station CKGB daily. He recorded a few singles on the station's own record label. The songs he sung were about The North and we all loved him for doing it. I was then stricken forever with the bug of wanting to hear the music of my own land.

The Canadian Shield has those deep black lakes of northern running waters, the scent of the jack pines and red spruce and birch trees, the low grey cloud cover in the mornings and the rich mineral composition that brought in the mines. This is my spiritual home, the one I carry around in my heart. It has become my spiritual centre as I've expanded my homeland in my travels and discoveries of Canadian folklore. This is what I try to bring to 'The Great North Wind'. 

-SAVE THE RAILS HOOTENANNY w/ Michelle Rumball, Peter Jellard, Pete Duffin, Tim Hadley, Reno Jacks, Stephensteve of the Big Smoke, Da Doo Dads & Rick Fielding. A jam session blow out!!!

-NORTH ONTARIO SAVE THE RAILS TOUR: The Grievous Angels, Stephensteve, High Lonesome, No Mean Feet, Positively Stompin' Andy Maize, The Rheostatics and Cajun Ramblers. Tape of the Northern tour from Cochrane and Kapuskasing.

-Tribute to Edith Fowke w/ David Warren 

-LIVE FROM ST VLADIMIR'S: A 5 Hour Special Hosted by Rick Fielding, Alan Baekland and Steve Fruitman, Featuring:
Rick Fielding
Stephen Byers
Al Cromwell
Fred Robertson
Sonny Petersen
It Ain't Pretty
The Steel Wool Band
Cate Frieson
The Celtic Gales (renamed Mad Love)
Brean Derg Muc: The Merkin Gerkins
Willie P. Bennett
Norm Hacking
The Old Peculiar Jug Band
The Cajun Ramblers
Pat Temple and High Lonesome
Mose Scarlett

-Don Freed when he was living in Toronto
-The Wakami Wailers of Picton and Peterborough
-The Debut of Suzanne Pasternak's Folk Opera Minerva
-Trout Fishing in America who just happened to be in town

-FOLK ON THE ROCKS - Yellowknife, NWT - Taped Highlights featuring
Grievous Angels
Cajun Ramblers
Flying Bulgar Klezmer Band
The Dots
Frank Cockney
Jimmy Ekho
Fort Good Hope Drummers
Uvagut
Simione Keenainak
Charlie Panagoiniak and Lorna Tassoer
Attima Hadlari and Rose Marie
Cape Dorset Throat Singers

-Two Penny Opera who used to be known as Two
-Ken Brown of Anderson and Brown from Guelph
-Mendleson Joe - the legendary, extraordinary, one and only
-Steve's Trip to the Maritimes: a reconstruction of my trip, a slide show on radio
-The music of Chang Mai w/ Kenneth Puley - Music he brought back from Thailand
-Klezmer with the Flying Bulgars Toronto's best Klezmer band
-Bill Bourne & a drunken McLeod - I don't even want to talk about it, but let's just say that Bill was great dispite his worser half

-On Air Hootenanny featuring:
Bobby Watt
Brean Derg Muc
Danny Bakkan
Ken Puley
Mary Ellen
Rick Fielding
-Metis Fiddling W/ Lawrence Teddy Boy Houle - Manitoba fiddler and Elder
-The 1st Annual Porcupine Awards

-Live from Lulu's: Walter Ostanek's 35th Anniversary party featuring Frankie Yankovik and Myron Floren, Tony Prakocic and the Black Forest Band - taped highlights from Kitchener ON, home of Octoberfest in Canada

-The 3rd Annual Porcupine Awards

-The Quebec Refererndum Special: telephone interviews with Heidi Fleming of Montreal, Danielle Martineau of St. Melanie & Jean-Paul Loyer of Joliette, Quebec

-Stevedore Steve telephone interview from Saint John, NB
-Carlos Del Junco & Champaign Charlie - The blues
-Stan Rogers Tribute w/ Paul Mills, Bill Garrett & Brian Morton
-The 6th Annual Porcupine Awards

-Edith Fowke Tribute: telephone interviews with Beverlie Robertson (Waterloo), Estelle Klein (Bloomfield), Ian Bell (Paris, ON) and in studio guest Maureen Redden

-Celebrating 26 years of True North Records with label founder Bernie Finkelstein
-26 years of Bruce Cockburn
-True North Now with Bernie Finkelstein
-Mill Race Traditional Music Festival with Brad McQuewen, Artistic Director
-Live telephone interview with Jan Zollars from Brittanie's Festival Interceltic
-Tim Harrison - Toronto's singer/songwriter and folk festival inventor
-Return of Steaphane Hannigan back from the UK
-Glen Reid from Burk's Falls -John Switzer - profile on a folk music producer
-3 Part Series on The Music of Northern Ontario
-Murray McLachlan - Gulliver's Taxi CD Release
-Borealis Recording Company - the launch of a new Canadian folk music label
-Brian Morton - The CD Launch that wasn't
-Doug Cox and Tammy Fassaert in from BC
-Rick Fielding - a profile on my favourite partner
-The 7th Annual Porcupine Awards

 "I don't know what folk music is these days, but I do know what it isn't."