Talent: MARC "MAIS OUI" DENIS
Station: Q 92 (CFQR) Montréal
Date: July 21, 2007
Time: 34:59 (Upgraded 06-25-17)

Pour la description en français, cliquez ici

Says Marc: “This audio piece is truly and literally quite “the ride”: It is my first New SNO show on CFQR 92.5 Montreal, an early Saturday evening live broadcast no less, at Montreal’s iconic amusement park, La Ronde, which was celebrating its 40th anniversary that summer of 2007.”

Le Goliath hyper coaster at La Ronde

The International Festival des Feux in July, Montréal

Your Expo '67 youth passport allowed for daily access to the site, all the islands and all the pavilions for the whole summer ... for $30.00 ! To get there, a ride by underground Metro cost 25 cents and, once on site, 10 cents got you around on all the sky minirail trains and access to the rides at La Ronde. For the World in your back yard and daily adventure, what a bargain!

I had initially experienced the rides and attractions of La Ronde first hand during the park's inaugural summer of 1967 with family and friends in my mid-teens, all the while joining over 50 million visitors (!!!) from North America and around the world, who took in Montreal's wildly successful World's Fair, Expo '67, next door to the amusement park, that spring and summer on the surrounding man-made islands.

“The ¾ geodesic dome in the background (to the right of the Jacques-Cartier Bridge) was the home of the USA Pavilion in 1967. It is one of the structures to have endured since 1967. Today, it is known as The Biosphere, an interactive museum dedicated to raising awareness on environmental issues. The dome was used prominently in the original Battlestar Galactica series (Greetings From Earth) and also seen in the Robert Altman film, Quintet”.

    “What a thrill it was to be asked to broadcast live on site 40 years later. For the event, I programmed nothing but hits from the year 1967, with frequent cues to the local Montreal music scene of the day, French and English: les Sultans, the Rabble, the Sceptres, les Hou-Lops, the Haunted, the Carnival Connection, the Staccatos (the latter from the Ottawa Valley), and even a 16-year old from Ville d’Anjou, Gino Vannelli and his first single blending right in with Sgt. Pepper and the other radio staples of that magic summer in Mayor Jean Drapeau’s Montréal la Magnifique. Combine that with the gleeful squeals of thrill seekers and persistent call-outs from the game barkers, the ubiquitous scent of popcorn, hotdogs and French fries in the air, the July sun slowly sinking and winking behind the Jacques-Cartier Bridge, retro radio jingles, nostalgia sound bites and a local homegrown bilingual host genuinely happy to be there…

Enjoy Marc Denis on SNO here.

Enjoy Marc Denis on SNO here.
 

(The Marc Denis Collection)

More from the Mais Oui Files here!