GE 1995 Season 2 Episode 5: Intro and Ron Gellately
Note: this is not a transcript, but a working draft of the script, so there may be differences in the aired version.
SHOW 5: THE BCN'S 60th ANNIVERSARY

DOUG:	It's 10:35 NF Standard Time.  Stay tuned for the Great 
	Eastern: Newfoundland's Cultural Magazine, with 

OTHER VOICE:	Interim host Erling Biggs.

DOUG AGAIN:	You are listening to the Broadcasting Corporation of 
	Newfoundland, 520 on the long wave.

MUSIC:	VAMP BEGINS.

DOUG:	(OVER VAMP) This week on the Great Eastern:

CLIPS, THEME IN AND ERLING'S BILLBOARD OVER 
THEME.  THEME OUT

ERLING:	Hello radio listeners of Newfoundland, Canada, and Iceland, 
	my name is Erling Biggs, welcome to the Great Eastern 
	where today, we help the BCN commemorate its sixtieth 
	anniversary as the broadcaster of record in Nfld.  Old hosts 
	make a comeback and we'll hear some of the golden 
	moments that have made the BCN and the Great Eastern 
	household names.  All this and much more, for you, with me, 
	Erling Biggs, on The Great Eastern.

SFX:	THEME

SFX:	KISH KISH OF TAPE MACHINE ... ELECTRONIC WANGS 
... TWO VOICES THAT ALMOST CANNOT BE HEARD

# 1:	Go ahead.

# 2:	Not yet, not yet ... is it time  ?

SFX:	RUSTLING OF PAPERS

# 1:	Go on, do it.

# 2:	(HESITANTLY)  Good morning, New Foundland.  You are 
	listening to the Broadcasting Corporation of New Foundland, 
	transmitting at 520 megahertz on the long wave.

MUSIC:	THE ODE TO NEWFOUNDLAND

ERLING:	The Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland was 
	established by an order in council at Westminster, under the 
	recommendation of the Commission of Government in 1934. 
	Almost a year later, on July 29, 1935, we went to air.

	What you have just heard was the original wire tape 
	recording of the inaugural sign-on of the BCN.  The voice 
	was that of our first station manager, Jabez Lundrigan.

	Our friends at all the other programs at the station have 
	been offering their tributes to the BCN this week.  And today, 
	we at The Great Eastern take the time to offer ours.  60 
	years of the BCN ... and ... of The Great Eastern.

	Because, the Great Eastern goes back almost to the 
	beginning.  It was in the depths of the days of the dole that 
	the Great Eastern's signal first sailed out across the island.  
	Jabez Lundrigan did double duty as our original captain, but 
	in 1937, a young man named Ron Gellately was given the 
	helm.  Through good times and bad, Ron Gellately was the 
	skipper of the Great Eastern ... until 1964, off and on.  Ron 
	was the most loved personality in BCN history.  He was 
	famous.  He was also infamous.

	It is 1939.  Ron Gellately, tit-deep in local Fenian intrigue, 
	receives startling news from Dirk Pilgrim, later famous in his 
	own right, but who was then our man at City Hall.

SFX:	OLD TAPE TIME AGAIN

RON:	Could you speak up, Dirk ?

DIRK:	There's quite a commotion here, a surprise development at 
	tonight's meeting of city council.  Stating that the Allied 
	Forces prospects for victory in the European theatre were at 
	best poor, St. John's Mayor Adam Fry has surrendered the 
	city to the Germans.  A telegram is now being sent to Berlin 
	inviting an occupational force to be dispatched as quickly as 
	possible.

RON:	What great news, Dirk!

DIRK:	Say again Ron, there's quite a commotion down here.  Oh, I 
	see some Newfoundland Rangers have arrived scene now.

RON:	I say, I'm sure all our listeners will join me in welcoming the 
	people of the great German nation to our shores.  You want 
	Lebensraum? Look no further, meine Freunde.  If our 
	Bavarian brethren are monitoring this broadcast, from me 
	and everyone here at the BCN, a great big warm 
	Newfoundland Heil Hitler to you all. 

ERLING:	Not surprisingly, both Mayor Fry and Ron Gellately were 
	detained after that episode.  Mayor Fry, a physician, 
	declared himself "neurologically unbalanced" and withdrew 
	from office, making way for the twenty year term of Cliff 
	"Boss" Duffett.  Ron Gellately returned to Broadcasting after 
	being interned for the duration of the war.

	But Ron had his good side, too.  His warmth and 
	congeniality were legendary.  He really believed each and 
	every citizen of Newfoundland was his friend.  People 
	quickly forgave his war crimes.

	In 1950, as a result of confederation, the BCN faced a major 
	budget shortfall.  The  station was forced to make up for it by 
	putting on a huge advertising push.  You can sense that in 
	this extraordinary excerpt from 1951.  Here's the reformed 
	Ron Gellately, firmly in control of the Great Eastern, with his 
	minder and assistant captain, Bill Reddigan.

SUNBEAM