An archive of BCN Community Announcements and Programming Highlights

H O M E

April 24, 1999: BCN Programming Highlights

Tonight on the BCN Concert Series, tune in for a special farewell performance of The Whistler. Over the years, thousands have enjoyed the labial virtuosity of Benjamin Humphries and tonight his golden embouchure delivers the goods one last time. Ben brings the curtain down on a half-century of winsome warbling with an all-Roger Whittaker playbill performed before a celebrity-packed house at the Battery Opera. That's tonight at 9 on BCN Concert Series.

Tomorrow morning at 6:45, it's The Happy Tightwad. Yes it's time once again for Bernard Ayres' Tax Avoidance Jamboree. Bernard and his special guests help one another us their vast stores of money to keep it from Revenue Canada. Celebrate miraculous investment tools such as Moldovan Treasury Ransom Note, Stink Bonds, Eternal Deferrals and Amazing Sea Monkeys. That's the Annual Tax Avoidance Jamboree on the Happy Tightwad, tomorrow morning at 6:45. Middle class wage slaves need not apply.

And this week on Variety Meats, hosts Stubb and Chubb Laracy invite you to meet the weiner. The weiner in it its many guises--frankfurter, vienna sausage, pickled grog bit, has bee a friend of the Happy Provicne since the first meat mill was established at Bay Bulls in the early eighteenth century. Was the old weiner really better? Has the inclusion of poultry by-products or even tofu diminished the weiner? Any why does the Big Bursey still retain the title "King of Weiners"? That's Tuesday at 4, on Variety Meats.

April 17, 1999: BCN Community Announcements

This afternoon starting at 1:00, it's the annual spring meeting of St. John's Vintage Appliances. Available today are a five-four-over-under counter-crank for a Masters Buckwinter Welby, a complete set of Walston Pole Guages--imperial measure, a Merlin-Victoria Butter Thruster, with weigh-gate, and a pork caliper. That's St. John's Vintage Appliances meeting after 1:00 today at the Knight's Templar Lodge in Rabbittown.

"Making Your Insurance Work" is the topic this week at Unrepresented by Council, Avalon Chapter. Former member of the Newfoundland Bar, Bunker Whitten, takes you through the small print. Work the step-ladder and deep-fat fryer to your advantage. Get the most from your coverage. That's Unrepresented by Council, Avalon Chapter, meeting tomorrow morning at 9:30, in the gallery at the Star of Palestine Hall.

And a note on the municipal calendar. The gentleman who visited St. John's last week claiming to be the mayor of our twin city, Penzance, England, has turned out to be an imposter. But the real mayor of Penzance has said he will honour any invitations extended by the imposter. That shows some real class, I think.

April 10, 1999: BCN Programming Highlights

Coming up after the Great Eastern it's Look It's. Today, Look, it's Back-to-Work Legislation. Host Ricki Parabramay tagged along recently when the gang from Local 237 of the Union of Public Pastry Chefs, Icing Piper and Doughmen set up their picket line in front of the House of Assembly, only to get forced back to glaze the Great Confederation Torte served at the Premier's Ball. Let them eat cake, today on Look It's.

Wednesday night it's a special edition of 30-for-60. Quizmaster Lofty Noel casts jacks for dealer live at the Star of Palestine Hall in a two-hour, call-for-your partner, go on the kitty, phantom renege, conductor caboose, reverse-order, dollar-a-point, no-hold game of railroad auction. Bring your own cards and baskets to the Old Pal Wednesday Night at 9, or follow the fun at home on 30-for-60.

On Friday night at 9, join host Darrin Tucker for Mysteries of Newfoundland. This week, Darren investigates the town of twins. Inexplicably, Grand Falls-Windsor has the highest rate of twin births in the semi-industrialized world. While in Central, Darren visits the Bog People of Tilley's Brook. Who are they? When did they go bog? And just what do they expect to find at Tilley's Brook? That's Mysteries of Newfoundland, Friday.

Feb. 6, 1999: BCN Community Announcements

The ladies of Clutterbrook Cove are on the hunt--for the gentlemen of Old Conche. Next week it's the annual fundraising campaign for the Hospitality Homes Corporation of the North Coast. Find a man up at the cabin, out on the ice, or just hiding in the bedroom, and win cash or valuable prizes donated by North Coast merchants. Come out and get a good man for a good cause.

The Crab Coeur de la Basques Pyranees is in and the Friends of Unpasteurized Cheese are having a dip and roll weekend. Bring your baguettes and all of the special stable cider you can drink to Kelly's Farm on the Old Spotted Cow Line in the Goulds anytime today or tomorrow. The Friends of Unpasteurized Cheese. Feel it live.

And for the kids today, a free event. The Fort Waldegrave Children's Theatre presents The Trial of Curious George, Part 4. This episode of the ongoing series contains the long-awaited testimony for the Crown of the Man in the Yellow Hat. That 3:30 this afternoon at the Battery Opera.

Jan. 30, 1999: BCN Programming Highlights

This evening at 6 on Snarkin' A Nar, more folkways of Hare Bay. Foolish trousers for Lent, Bullbird Jam, and the game of Randy Rabbit as practiced in Singey Brook. Professor Carlo Zeffetelli travelled to Hare Bay in 1962, and recorded many of the region's folk traditions before the introduction of television, the car, and the Roman alphabet. Back to the Bay on Snarkin' A Nar.

Tomorrow night at 11, join Llewellyn Bunt and the gang for The Lumberyard. This week the boys at the yard go retro when Herb Costello's daughter wants her new room done 70's style. Llewellyn drives to Goobies to find some rare 1972 vintage green faux-wood panelling. Gary finds they've still got half a roll of avocado shag carpet up the warehouse and Kirby almost ruins himself lifting a tub of stucco.

And tune into Townbeat this Monday at 12:30 for the annual Townbeat townie listener's poll as hosts Brendan Hennebury and Donnie Tucker take the city pulse. Is it time to institute regular garbage collection? How best to re-allocate profits from the Animal Control Unit? Do you support the Mayor's amalgamation ultimatum to the brown-bagging freeloaders who embrace tax evasion as a way of life? And who's the biggest tool on council? Listen up. Town speaks this Monday at 12:30.

Jan. 23, 1999: BCN Community Announcements

The Newfoundland Information Office is revising Her Majesty's Lists of Governance Lists for the New Founde Land, 3rd Edition. Proposed amendments include scrubbing from the list of lists references to the High Colonial Phrenologist, the Sherrif's Ale Agent and an index including practices of witchcraft and Irish rituals on the shore south of St. John's. Persons petitioning against the proposed amendments are asked to post a request for the Vizier's pleasure on the King's Own Post, near the Shouting Place, in front of Government House.

Avalon Mothers for a Moment's Peace are meeting at 8 tonight in the gym at St. Matthew's Collegiate. Topics for the session include, The Ethical Dilemma of Family Doping, The Six Recognized Tactics for Leaving the Kids at Your Sister's, and the Best Local Routes for a Long Drive to Nowhere and Back. Avalon Mothers for a Moment's Peace: for the love of God, will you all shut up.

The Academy of the Pinguid Arts, 342 Gommer Drive presents a Master Class with Gid Stockley, current Orange Sash of the Newfoundland Deep Fat Fryer's League. Gid will take qualified applicants--that's at least DFF Level 6--through the preparation of the deep fried breakfast, using the full depth of the fryer to cook multiple dishes at once. How the pros handle those tricky kippers, egg sculpting in hot oil and the surprising elegance of a properly fried porridge. That's at the Academy of Pinguid Arts, starting at 7 tomorrow morning.

And with 50 years of Confederation comes a day of reckoning. The Newfoundland Department of Finance points out that April 1st will be your last opportunity to convert the Newfoundland dollar, or "Dog" to the Canadian dollar, or "Loon". The Dog will not be honoured by chartered banks beyond this date.

Jan. 16, 1999: BCN Programming Highlights

At 3 this afternoon on Medicine Chest, Dr. Victor Squires squeezes out the swabs and identifies the latest wave of mutant viruses to arrive in the province. Symptoms featured on today's program include the scaly mucoids of Streptosaurus B, the telltale hot-cough of Necrotizing Bronchitis and the mild disorientation of the 25-hour flu. Need an antidote for your winter woes? Medicine Chest at 3:00.

At 5:00 on Jock and Jill, host Tracey Babstock considers the feasibility of a local bid for the 2006 Winter Olympics. Tracey's joined by an expert panel of confidence men, money launderers, pimps and advertising execs, failed businessmen and retired politicians in search of fatter sinecures. What are our chances with the IOC? You could be in for a surprise this afternoon on Jock and Jill.

And tomorrow at midnight, tune in to the Christian Women's Hour with special guest, Brother Foster O'Coyne, a Jesuit who is also a Zen Master and a full Rastafarian Wingding. Brother O'Coyne turns to his three faiths to address the major spiritual questions of our time. Is my family a form of God's punishment? Is ecstacy a gateway to enlightenment? And if so, how do I do it? Brother O'Coyne demonstrates. And do my bad thoughts make me a bad person? What about really bad thoughts? Get the answer on the women's Christian hour.

Nov. 28, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

Join the Oboe Hobos tonight at the UNSJ Recital Hall for a grand old night of the classics. The classical hoedown begins at 8:30 and is in aid of the St. John's Symphonette's tour of the province's hospitals. Come hear the wacky clowns of serious music do a take on country.

The Gallery Bodhran is holding it's annual celebrity auction tomorrow night in the Leif Eriksson room of the Hotel Palmer Hotel. Items up for grabs include dinner with the mayor, a shift on the ice with the Baby Leafs, a late Van Eyck and a date with BCN's own Erling Biggs. Join celebrity auctioneer Cindy Legrow 7:30 tomorrow evening at the Hotel Palmer Hotel and do some early Christmas gift buying.

A check of records has revealed the St. John's Public Library is missing some important and rare books. In an effort to retrieve these items, the library is offering a one-week amnesty on overdue fines. Among the books sought by the library are a first edition of Huckleberry Finn, the only known copy of St. Brendans Navigators Guide to New World with Tables, and the annotated pornographic recipe collection of Mme. Jan Benoit.

The St. Matthews Academy Boy Scouts are finally bringing down the Wall of Fudge. Pieces of the great confectionary structure will be sold door-to-door until Christmas. Proceeds will go towards the restoration of the Horsechops Lodge.

Nov. 21, 1998: BCN Programming Highlights

At 3 on Medicine Chest, Dr. Victor Squires diagnoses the latest wave of workplace disorders. Experiencing habitual disorientation and a hyperextended id? You could be suffering from Open Office Dysfunction. Are new strains of ventilator super-fungals behind and alarming rise in Chronic Regret Syndrome? Tune in to the Pathology of the Modern Office, this afternoon on Medicine Chest.

At 4, Playlets continues its anniversary series: 50 years of Anguish--A Newfoundland Theatre Retrospective. Today, the revolutionary 1956 production of William French Laughton's Pudding Bag Shaker, the agonizing saga of a sensitive boy's journey from the deep bay to the mean corners of town. The young Phyllis Dean stars as Boyd with a special guest appearance by Sir Hugh Ballantine as Donny.

Tonight at 9, the BCN Concert Series presents Celtic Cavalcade, highlights from this years Gael Pride Festival of Music and Dance. Featured are Big Sweaty Neck, the Hopping Bog Boys and Hot Eyre. They saved civilization, and you're going to hear all about it, tonight on Celtic Cavalcade.

Nov. 14, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

The numbing blue glow of daytime television, swapping prescription meds, rollies, a basement room in a boarding house on Malta Street. Sound familiar? Then you might want to help form a Rabbittown Association of Layabouts. Persons interested can meet late Monday afternoon at Hibbs Grocery and Confectionary.

The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. John's needs a miracle. Just one more and they will be able to petition the Vatican for the beatification of Father Joseph Jiggs O'Reilly, the Dancing Priest. If you have recovered spontaneously from a disease or malady, found a long-lost object or loved-one due to the intercession of father Jiggs, or have seen a latent image of Father Jiggs, please phone the Roman Catholic Episcopal Corporation at 725-3670.

Avalon Mothers for a Moment's Peace are holding their weekly get-together at 8, Tuesday evening in the all-purpose room of St. Matthew's Parish Hall. Topics on the agenda include: ranking the summer camps--is a three-month stay too long for the kids?; how to disappear in your own home; and a survey of tracking collars for the family. The group adjourns to the Tiki-Meow Lounge at 10:30 for gins and a full-out, no-holds-barred bitch session. Avalon Mothers for a Moment's Peace: For The Love of God Will You Please Shut Up?

Nov. 7, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

Junior Achievement Newfoundland in association with the St. John's Board of Trade, present Earl Vardy, fund manager and tax consultant. Mr. Vardy will present a talk entitled "High-yield Offshore Investing adn the Young Offenders Act". Opportunities for youth about in fields of business activity considered too risky for adults. Earl Vardy shows how the ambitios under-18-year-old can assess the risks and make the big money.

Were you involved in a NASA staging of lunar landings near Fermeuse in the 1960's? A group of former film crew members in the secret undertaking are forming an association. You can join tonight at 7:30 at the BIS.

The Good Old Gander Foundation will be meeting in St. John's this week to develop plans for a Gander Day celebration. If you have ideas for a Gander town festival, come and meet the foundation's steering committee at the Leif Eriksson Room of the Hotel Palmer Hotel Tuesday at 7 p.m. As part of the celebrations, Gander is preparing a Commemorative "Big Book of Gander". In aid of this project, any persons having recollections of the romance of the Crossroads of the World are invited to call 1-800-GANDERD.

A pair of men's bifocals, a large box of lemon cream biscuits and a tube of salve were left at the BCN last week. The owner can pick the items up at the station.

Oct. 31, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

Tonight is Halloween and the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary remind all adult trick or treaters that it is an offence to operate a motor vehicle while weearing a mask and while frightening friends can be fun, be sure to exercise some caution if they're at the wheel.

Blarney O'Blusters is having an all Irish Halloween dinner and dance. Bobbing for dumplings, a pumpkin pie throwing contest and free drinks for the green until 11. Music will be provided by the Celtic Conkerbells.

Time once again for the Haunted House of Assembly. Learnit Newfoundland will be conducting a ghoulish tour of the provincial legislature tonight at 8:00. Bills that died a grisly death on the order paper, phantom members and the filibuster that they say goes on still. Bring the kids. It's scary

The Atlantic Dental Brotherhood reminds all ghosts, goblins and vampires that after gobbling the goodies, the should make sure to brush and floss all fangs, horns, spikes, tusks, mandibles and other bony outgrowths before going to bed.

Oct. 24, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary will be holding an auction of decommissoned equipment this afternoon at the firing range. Items available include four fully-loaded police cruisers, a vintage Black Mariah, ten cases each containing twelve canisters past due-date tear gas, thirty-six never-worn uniforms, all size men's small, as well as a wide selection of cuffs, shackles and irons. The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary: Few are Qualified.

Artists who have thought better of it can meet at the Bohdran Gallery tomorrow at noon. Topics for discussion include; "Getting Back Your Most Embarrassing Work", "Retraining Alternatives for Persons Formerly Engaged in Modern Dance or Performance Art" and "Dressing up the Old Resume".

The University of Newfoundland at St. John's Botanical Institute wants you to have your pick. The experimental farm at Daleberg is closing down for another season and the public is being invited to share in the bounty. It's first come-first served, Sunday morning starting at 7 a.m. Bring a sack, a shovel and an appetite. Come and root around our gardern tomorrow.

Wicca Newfoundland is establishing a coven in Mount Pearl. Women interested in performing the ancient Pagan rites are asked to meet at the community center this Tuesday at 10 p.m.. Tea and cookies will be served.

Oct. 10, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

It's the time of year when hunting and berry picking conflict with berry pickers rarely emerging the winner. To address the problem, concerned berry pickers can gather tomorrow afternoon at 3 near the old dump on the Spongy Downs to discuss the formation of a Provisional Wing of the Berry Pickers Action Group. Pick Free or Die.

The Monthly meeting of St. John's-Mount Pearl Old and Bitter will be held tonight at the Knight's Templar Armoury on Stamp's Lane. On the agenda: "How much your children really owe you," "Dealing with saucy young doctors" and "The outrageous demands of the unions these days."

Oct. 3, 1998: BCN Programming Highlights

Saturday at 12:30 p.m. : Look, It's Dioxin in the Breast Milk. Host Ricki Parabramay follows the migration of toxic waste from the industrial heartland into the produce, meat and drinking water of unsuspecting easterners. Chain chain chain. Chain of Foods. Today, on Look, It's.

Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. it's zany antics galore when The Three Wise Guys take to the airwaves. Goldie, Frank and Murray head to London and try to place an Order of the British Empire. Three David Lean Roast Beef deli specials on a Khyber with extra Malayonnaise and a side of Ghurkas. The madcap fun goes into overdrive at the Tower when Murray catches a Beefeater with his hands on the Royal Family jewels.

On Symposium, Porn Glyphs of the Ancient World. Professor Helen Maunder puts the ram back in Ramses with a look at the bedtime reading of the Egyptian nobility. After the tedious scholaraly debate, Dr. Maunder settles down to read from some favourites. Cleopatra's Cuniforms, Alexander the Great and Gomorrah and the Greek Slave Trilogy. A special homer-erotic series on Symposium, nightly this week at 7.

Sept. 24, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

The St. John's West Chapter of the Good Parents of Bad Children are having a Bowl-o-Rama and encounter session this coming Tuesday evening between 7 and 10. Why, when you have worked so hard, are your children hideous monsters? Drop by McMurdo's Lanes for a donut and a coffee, and share the misery with the Good Parents of Bad Children.

Sept. 19, 1998: BCN Programming Highlights

Saturdays at 6 p.m.: Snarkin' a Nar with host Gino Campanelli. This week Professor Campanelli visits Little Bumpy in Tar Cove, where the old traditions of baiting Catholics, minding other people's business and netting the rivers still survive.

Sunday at 4 p.m. it's Thumbs and Other Things Green. This week, Security Plants for the House and Garden. Dr. Peter Blacke takes you through the cultivation and care of Arsenic Thistle borders, Burmese Barking Gladiola, and Maltese Stink Violets.

People attending the annual Newfoundland Food and Livestock Show are invited to drop by the BCN booth and meet Chubb and Stubb Laracy, hosts of Variety Meats. The program will be broadcast live from the stadium this Tuesday at 4, when Chubb and Stubb will present Gland Cookery and announce the winner of the Pickled Meats Contest"

Sept. 12, 1998: BCN Community Announcements

"The Suicide Prevention Hotline wishes to inform the public that the summer holidays are over, so the line is again available. Why not give them a call."

"The City's Engineering Division wishes to notify residents in the Higher Levels and Rabbittown areas that Wednesday at Noon they will be conducting a controlled high pressure analysis of mains. The release of vapour into the system will be signalled by three gunshots. The civil defence klaxon will sound the all clear. Residents are advised to exercise extreme caution."