Jeff: With the demise of the shortwave service of Radio Canada International more
than 12 years ago in June 2012, many people who wanted to remain in touch with
events in Canada and Canadian culture began turning to the domestic radio services
CBC Radios 1 and 2 on the Internet. One of the interesting music shows on those
channels was Vinyl Tap, presented by Randy Bachman, and Ray Robinson has a clip
from that for us today. Here he is, from Los Angeles.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. The name Randy Bachman may not instantly ring a bell, but he
was lead guitarist with the Canadian group ‘The Guess Who’, playing on songs such
as ‘American Woman’ and ‘These Eyes’. He was also the ‘Bachman’ of ‘Bachman-
Turner Overdrive’, and he’s been an integral part of Canada’s music scene since the
late 60’s, including a successful career as a solo artist.
In 2005, he started a weekly two hour show on CBC radio called ‘Vinyl Tap’, in which
he played his favorite music and shared stories from his life on the road and in the
studio. The name ‘Vinyl Tap’ was presumably chosen as an homage to the fictional
American TV rock band ‘Spinal Tap’ of the late 70’s and early 80’s.
In the Vinyl Tap show, which Randy recorded in the CBC Vancouver studios, he
played mainly classic rock, pop and even jazz music, usually arranged around a
theme, and often with stories behind the selections. He also sometimes played short
musical demonstrations live on his guitar, as well as frequently recalling many
personal anecdotes.
A regular feature of the show was the mailbag, where he’d read out listener letters.
Often something that a listener had written would send him on an amusing rant,
such as the one we’re going to hear today. This is the mailbag feature, about 45
minutes into the first hour of his show on Sunday, November 29, 2015, on CBC
Radio 2.
Randy Bachman with the mailbag on his Vinyl Tap show on CBC Radio 2 on Sunday
November 29 th , 2015. I loved the way Randy was holding forth about the way radio
and music has developed in North America. Mailbag shows on shortwave stations
such as HCJB and Radio Moscow used to be among my favorites, but sadly they’re
mostly a thing of the past now. As indeed is the Vinyl Tap show itself – it was
canceled by the CBC in 2021, and a farewell special aired on Canada Day, July 1.
There was a subsequent syndicated version carried by about twenty or so Canadian
commercial stations in 2022 and 2023, but the last one of those went out on April
30 last year.
Back to you, Jeff.
Jeff: Thanks, Ray. Next week Ray will be continuing with part 2 of the Adventist
Shortwave Broadcasting History series that we started last week.
YouTube Vinyl samples: https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vinyl+tap+music
