I have written a letter to the editor exactly once in my lifetime. Having said that, the changes to my local radio station have left me no choice but to share my feelings about the changes.
I don’t like it, not one teeny bit. I am finding this new sound noisy and annoying, not the least bit appealing. It is no longer the soothing, joyful, familiar background music that was turned on first thing in the morning and kept on throughout the day.
My family has been in Vernon since 1980, when we moved here from Vancouver and didn’t know a single person. The celebrities on CJIB quickly became our “friends” and that friendship has grown nearer and dearer to us over the years.
Welcome Traveller was a segment we always looked forward to and of course Frank, cannot say enough good about Frances and his humorous and sometimes off-colour comments. To this day we still chuckle over the time he spoke of going to the policeman’s ball and the “fact” that policemen had bigger balls than firemen. I think he might have got a spanking for that one!
He became part of our lives and for quite a few years was a large part of an annual event we were fortunate enough to co-host.
Rob’s children attended the same elementary and high schools as our grandchildren and whenever we saw him at the school it was akin to a celebrity sighting. Our one grandson had his own special way of saying Rob’s entire name, it was a fun name to say when you’re a six-year-old. Sorry Rob!
There are many voices that we have come to depend on, and we will miss each and every one of them, surely too many to mention but you all know who you are. Dependable, reliable, comforting voices.
Good-bye old friends, it’s been an amazing time and we are terribly saddened it’s come to an end, at least for this family.
Heather Neill
Vernon