GE 1998-9 Season 5 Episode 1: Paulitorial
Note: this is not a transcript, but a working draft of the script, so there may be differences in the aired version.
PAUL: The past six years have seen us make Reykjavik
our token home for a festive 'last Saturday in August
in Iceland live' broadcast. This summer, with renovations
closing down most of the studios in the BCN building, we
embarked on a full-scale, all-inclusive traveling Great
Eastern road show, stopping in 12 delightful Icelandic towns.
As in the past,, the fresh, apple-cheeked people of that
ancient and storied island endeared themselves to us with
their public-spirited toil and intense revelry. The
unfortunate incident with the mayor's daughter at Bejtdisfjorder
was soon forgiven over liberal rations of aquavit and a spirited
and rowdy recitation of the sagas in a cozy, smoke-filled
country inn. I wasn't imbibing, of course, but within seconds
of my arrival nobody was in any condition to notice anyway.
Heroic Iceland, married to the broadcasts of the BCN through an
electronic twist of geophysical fate that results in our signal
tunnel-jumping and wave-warping its way to curious listeners
on a distant island. It's another unlikely encounter in the
strange tale of twentieth century communication - a vast and
complex saga of nautical machines and cables and electronic
pulses criss-crossing North Atlantic islands.
And the Broadcasting Corporation of Nfld. happily announces
that it's negotiations with the communications governing bodies
of several other islands and countries in the North Atlantic
Basin will soon see the free broadcast of this mighty show to
areas currently served by the pirate RCI signals. Before long,
we will be multi-international !
Soon, it will be Hello, Hebrides, how are you ! Come in Cape
Verde, Canary and the Channel Islands ! Welcome, the isle of
Wight ! Allo, Azores, Ireland and the Orkneys ! Greetings
to Guernsey, Jersey, Sark and Man ! Tune in, from the Funks
to Madeira to Jan Mayen, from our island to yours.
This seems a natural progression for us. There exists a deep
sub-woofer connection between and amongst islands and islanders,
a voodoo, a vuggum, always eerily telepathic, sometimes mythical,
sometimes mystical, something we all feel, something none of us
can or would define or categorize ... palpable yet ... not.
We share an ingenuity and persistence in the face of mental and
physical conditions that temper our spirits into resilient yet
solid and stolid stuff. Islanders, unique and individual.
And after all, isn't every man an island ?
So come on everybody, let's share more ... let's share the Great Eastern !