There will be no broadcasts on Saturday 13 Aug, Sunday 14 Aug, or Monday 15 Aug.  If you’d like to listen to past broadcasts you can scroll down to the Ridge Radio Archive link.

Saturday, 18 June at 2pm Pacific time on Sessions on RidgeRadio

Rita Moir, Corky Evans, and Ray Kosancic from Word Of Mouth 2005 and 2006

Sunday, 19 June at 2pm Pacific time on Rossland Talking Tours

Falaise Lake Tunnel … on the 13th of March 1971, Jack took his tape recorder into the 800 foot level of the old Le Roi workings.  The workings had been flooded to the 300 foot level since they were abandoned in 1929, and no one had been on the 800 foot level since then.

Mt Roberts … in 1968 Jack took his tape recorder to the top of Mt Roberts and talked about the view from a geological perspective.  You can hear a blast at the moly mine on the back of Red.

Monday 13 June at 2pm Pacific time on CampFire Songs

Wayne plays some old songs everyone remembers, and can sing along with, and then an old time radio play … this week Have Gun Will Travel

<><><><><>

RidgeRadio Archive … here you can find some of the Sessions you may have missed … just added the Pranks Session with Christina Myers from the 2nd of April … some great prank stories, as well as some really interesting online aspects of the Ottawa Occupation and the people working against it that you never heard about in the news … and of course I had to write a song about it !

SESSIONS … every Saturday at 2:00 pm Pacific time … musicians, writers, and storytellers in session with Wayne. 

ROSSLAND TALKING TOURS … every Sunday at 2:00 pm Pacific time … voices from Rossland’s past, going all the way back to folks who came here in the 1890s … from the Jack McDonald Collection, as well as from Wayne’s own collection.  
Sun 22 May we’ll have Helen Dahlstrom - A Musical Life Part 2.

Coming up over the next few weeks we’ll have

<> Last Train To Rossland … In 1966 a few months after CPR shut the track down, Jack McDonald got on the train with his tape recorder in Tadnac for the last run to the top of the track in Rossland to start removing track at the top of the Wye.  A couple days later, on the last run into the yard Harry Lefevre hosted the track removal ceremony, also caught on Jack’s tape recorder.

<> Falaise Lake Tunnel … In 1971 Jack and his tape recorder accompanied a group of men into the drainage tunnel which drained the mines down to the 800 foot level … no one had been below the 300 foot level since Cominco shut the mines down in the 1920s.

<> Mt Roberts … In 1968 Jack took his tape recorder to the top of Mount Roberts and spoke of the geology of his view as he turned 160 degrees … he happened to capture a blast at the mine, which was still operating at the time and left behind the Pits on the west side of Red Mt 

CAMPFIRE SONGS … every Monday at 2 pm Pacific time … Wayne plays some old time songs, one voice and one guitar, live and unplugged, and then an old time radio play.  This Monday we’ll have Gunsmoke

I go on-air at 1:45 pm with pre-recorded music so you can tune in a little early to catch the beginning of the show, which starts promptly at 2:00 pm.  When I’m on-air you can tune in here : RidgeRadio Player

<><><><><>

Just added to Events on the Rossland Talking Tours page … Last Train To Rossland … In 1966 Jack McDonald and his tape recorder rode the last train from Tadnac to the top of the line at the Wye above the Rossland Station, near the LaFond place, on the day they started removing track … Jack narrates the trip with train whistles and the thrum of the locomotive in the background … great nostalgia for anyone who remembers those sounds.  And then Mayor Harry Lefevre talks about growing up with the trains at the Track Removal Ceremony.  And under People, John Drake, Pat Williams, and Richie Mann.

Recently added to People on the Rossland Tallking Tours page … Helen Dahlstrom - A Musical Life.    Helen had a long and distinguished career in classical music.  At the age of 16 she played the Schumann Concerto with the Regina Symphony Orchestra.  She toured western Canada as an accompanist for John Goss in 1940.  She played as a soloist on CBC radio.  She taught piano, she conducted, she examined, she adjudicated, and she was involved in many groundbreaking undertakings in various professional associations.  As a member of the BC Arts Council in the early 1960s, she planted the seed that later became The Knowledge Network.  She was president of the Canadian Federation Of Music Teachers' Associations and as recognition of her service and contribution, was made a lifetime Honorary President … the only other honorary president is the ceremonial position bestowed on whoever is the current Governor-General of Canada.  As president of CMFTA she started Canada Music Week.  She was always curious and always interesting.  I was fortunate to spend three hours with Helen over two sessions in August and October of 2008, at her home in Rossland.  We talked about teaching, conducting, the brain, harmony and counterpoint, examining, adjudicating, musicianship, choirs, and more.  She was 91 at the time.

Rossland Talking Tours

<><><><><>

Just added to the Live and Unplugged project … Elizabth Cotten’s Freight Train, perhaps the most famous train song of all.  These are songs from the Sessions broadcasts and the Campfire Songs broadcasts … Wayne playing live, one guitar and one vocal, unedited.  You can find it on the RidgeRadio Sessions Archive page.  The direct link is here :  Live and Unplugged 2022

<><><><><>

Just added on the Kootenay Storytellers page …

Corky Evans, from the Word Of Mouth festival.  Corky talks about his friend Bob Cunningham (2005) and the history of logging in the Slocan Valley from the very beginning, how the valley went from 17 sawmills and 38 logging companies to 1 (2008)

Barry Gray, also from the Word Of Mouth festival, with stories of John Kirkup from his time in Rossland (2006).  And also Barry’s story Down From The Mountains (2008).

Carolyn McTaggart, also from Word Of Mouth, with the story of Jenny Wren and the Christmas To Remember (2005).  Also stories of John Kirkup from his time before Rossland (2006).  And also her story Runaway (2008).

Kootenay Storytellers

<><><><><>

I’m looking for information on these two photos.  I know nothing about them.  The landscape in the first one looks like it could be Christina Lake, although the landscape would fit anywhere in the Kootenays.  I’m told the architecture is very typical of buildings throughout BC that were originally built as hospitals. If they look at all familiar, please email me.

<><><><><>

The latest addition to the Rossland Talking Tours page.  Recorded and filmed live on stage at the Miners Hall in Rossland BC on the 3rd of January 2004.  Booty Griffiths tells the story of The Jeldness Tea Party and Wayne plays the song.  Here’s the direct link :

The Jeldness Tea Party

<><><><><>

Gary Little will be back with the sequel to his book To Hell and Back.  You can hear the session for his first book here :

To Hell and Back 1

<><><><><>

The second annual live Christmas Day concert can now be found on the Yuletide page.  My musical guests were Roelof Helberg, Gabe Mann, and Jack McDonald.  My spoken word guests, with some great Christmas stories, were Edward Davies from Rossland, Christina Myers from Vancouver, Gary Little from Vancouver, Ivo Cargnelli from Halfmoon Bay, and my wife Irene.  And I’m looking for stories for the concert next Christmas Day, so if anyone has a story please contact me !

Yuletide In Rossland 2021

<><><><><>