Canada: Radio free Noggin Cove

GOOD OLE COUNTRY – Cyril Gillingham is entertaining the locals in Noggin Cove with his own amateur radio station, playing old school country tunes for those who grew up with only a radio in their childhood homes. Andrew Robinson/The Beacon

Amateur radio enthusiast spins old time country BY ANDREW ROBINSON  The Beacon     In Noggin Cove, Cyril Gillingham said there are many older folks who love to hear old time country music – the sort of sounds they used to hear growing up in the community.     It's a style largely ignored by most commercial stations, who now have playlists dominated by the likes of Keith Urban, Tim McGraw, and Taylor Swift.     Now, Mr. Gillingham is trying to fill that old school country void through a hobby he's put a lot of passion into.     With a modest amount of equipment, Mr. Gillingham is operating an amateur radio station out of his attic in Noggin Cove.     "I was always into old country music," said the retired fishermen, sitting in an attic filled with CDs and musical instruments.     "I got myself a little transmitter, and I had the other equipment from DJing dances, so I got a little five-watt transmitter and went from there."      Radio was a big part of his youth growing up in Noggin Cove. His father owned the second battery-operated radio in town when Mr. Gillingham was a young boy.     "We didn't have television in Noggin Cove until 1962, and so all the baby boomers and older folks grew up with radio," he said.     As a family, they would listen intently to the Gerald S. Doyle News, Saturday night hockey games, and broadcasts of country music, sometimes coming live from the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee.     "From the time I was a very small boy, I was fascinated with radio. Television doesn't do anything for me."     His operation is a shortwave one, not wanting to become a station in need of a license from the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission.     "I want to stay inside the rules and regulations of ham radio," said Mr. Gillingham.     He plays music from the thousands of CDs he has accumulated over the years. Mr. Gillingham used to sell them across the island, working with distributors based in the United States that specialized in old country and rock 'n' roll. Old school     Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Jim Reeves, Lefty Frizzell, Patsy Cline and Faron Young are just some of the many recording artists he plays.     "This isn't for the younger people. I don't think many young people want to listen to Wilf Carter or Hank Williams. But the old people, right up into their 80s, they phone me and request a song or hymn I'll play for them," said Mr. Gillingham, who does an all-gospel music Sunday.     "Last night I had a lady call-in and make a request for the sick and the shut-ins and the crowd at the old people's home."     His selections reach back as far as the 1940s and into the 1970s. Beyond that, he might play a scattered new song, but otherwise, he avoids new country.     "Garth Brooks? No," he said emphatically.     One quality Mr. Gillingham finds to be lost in today's country music is a variety in voices.     "Nobody sang like somebody else. Today, all the country music singers all try to sing alike, and you don't know which one is which one. When Johnny Cash sang in 1955, you knew it was Johnny Cash – as soon as you heard the first strum on the guitar."     In the morning, he will typically climb the steps leading to his attic and begin his broadcast day.      He does not make regular announcements like traditional DJs (though he'll sometimes do birthdays and community events), and when he is out cutting wood in the daytime, his wife, Nellie Gillingham, will usually listen for when a CD finishes and replace it with a new one.     In the evening, Mr. Gillingham will occasionally come on air to offer prizes for listeners who can answer trivia questions.     The response so far has been very positive since he went on air two months ago.     "All the shut-ins around here just love it – they even call in and tell me how much they like it," said Mr. Gillingham.     Some listeners, he said, wait until he signs off before going to bed.     "When I say 'Goodnight and God bless,' then they'll go to bed." info@ganderbeacon.ca Source: http://www.ganderbeacon.ca/index.cfm?sid=324091&sc=305 Via Yimber Gaviria, Colombia