Subject: OPEN LINE w/JOHN DICKINS
Station: CFPL London, Ont.
Date: July 1, 1964
Time: 31:00 (unscoped)
           21:56 (scoped)

 

John Dickins was a talk show pioneer but he wasn't adverse to playing a few tunes.

Dickins, whose 6-10 a.m. "Open Line" show on CFPL proved very popular in London and southwestern Ontario in the '60s, takes calls from listeners and spins a few records in this aircheck from Dominion Day 1964.

No politics here - one young lad inquires about the cost of sending a letter to England. Dickins politely suggests the boy ask the post office. Another caller thanks Dickens for giving the bus schedule for that day. Someone asks what Shirley Booth's maiden name is (her birth name was Marjory Ford). The music is mostly for adults but he does play Memphis by Johnny Rivers.

Pete James is heard with news, sports and weather. In the sports segment, he mentions that race car driver Edward "Fireball" Roberts had taken a turn for the worse after an accident that left him badly burned. Sadly, he died the next day but his death led an increase in research into fire retardant uniforms, now mandatory in NASCAR racing. Roberts was 35.

Dickins moved to Toronto in the early '70s where he helped establish the National School of Broadcasting. He died in 2013, aged 85.

Enjoy "Open Line" with John Dickins on CFPL (UNSCOPED) here. 

Enjoy "Open Line" with John Dickins on CFPL (SCOPED) here.