Comments on: Lolly, CFUN, and the Brill Trolley Bus

By: Richard Skelly

Richard Skelly — Sun, 23 Dec 2018 01:41:53 +0000

Commenters Janet, Jaime and Lyn nail it in their recollection of phone number(s) which allowed dozens or more callers at a time to communicate through the ether.

As noted in Eve’s article, phone switchboards could crash if overloaded with incoming calls. My guess is that the “special number(s)” were rugged enough to not crash completely, but instead create a phantom soundscape where distant sounding voices could make contact with one another. I wouldn’t be surprised if lasting friendships or even marriages resulted.

I’m not sure about Ed Kargl, but of the other CFUN deejays mentioned, Mad Mel and John Tanner are still alive. Last I heard, Mad Mel was still announcing in Australia. John left commercial radio to hire on at the H.R. MacMillan Planetarium to help present audio-visual special events. He and another retro announcer, J.B. Shayne, have a show on CITR, the University of British Columbia radio station.

By: Gregory Melle

Gregory Melle — Thu, 20 Dec 2018 13:15:38 +0000

Brill bus photo was taken on west side of Granville looking north towards Pender Street.
From left to right in background are #500, #526, #540 and #562 Granville Street.
All those buildings — but not the businesses — are still there today.

By: Lyn Taylor-Scott

Lyn Taylor-Scott — Wed, 12 Dec 2018 05:26:35 +0000

In reply to Janet. I remember doing this as a young teen.

By: Raymond Parker

Raymond Parker — Tue, 11 Dec 2018 16:08:29 +0000

I arrived in Canada (New Westminster) in 1965. CFUN was my station of choice. Fred Latremouille was the man. That Top 10 is perfect, though Canada was a wee bit behind when it came to the latest hits. My pile of 45s made me an instant hit with my new friends.

That was a hot summer. Transistor radio by the pool.

By: James

James — Mon, 10 Dec 2018 00:48:21 +0000

Bring back the old style at least. People stand between the wheel wells and the exit now. And stand rather that sit. Thats to faciltate ppl being free to get off. Oh and my pet peeve. Pppl walk all thecway to tthe front to hrt off to lazy or stupid to use the back door.
And oh yeah, if you wanted yoursong pkayed it was dial, dial qnd litterly push the dial pad..

By: Doug Parks

Doug Parks — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 18:54:40 +0000

I like the old style BC HYDRO buses. They had the swing gate at the rear departure. As a youngster I was on an Hydro bus going from the West End to Grand Prix Hobbies on West Broadway. They had slot car tracks and were a fabulous place to spend the day. As I was getting off the bus, somehow my tackle box with my slot cars, controller , and misc parts still in my grasp got stuck in the bus. As the bus drove off with my arm still grasping my slot cars had the driver not noticed I was hanging on and running beside the bus I would have been forced by upcoming lamp standard to abandon my toys.
I wonder if Angus was the driver?

By: Jaime

Jaime — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 17:41:39 +0000

In reply to Janet. I picked up the phone one day, and someone was shouting "Are there any girls out there?!"

By: Janet

Janet — Sun, 09 Dec 2018 17:34:46 +0000

There was a number that you could call to get the correct time, and if it was busy, we would yell out our phone numbers, and meet people that way! I guess you’d call it the first “online dating”! Lol