Just added a shiny new 13.5 gig drive to make sure I don't run out
  of room for all those GE MP3's. I think Gerry should be getting a
promotional fee from people like Fujitsu, Western Digital, etc.
      Happy New Year to all who, like me, are rowing passionately along in
  the wake of The Great Eastern. It's going to be a great year.
      Here's a thought: Wouldn't Mack Furlong be a much better host for
"This Morning (side)" than the increasingly insufferable Michael Enright?
  Especially in the persona of Paul Moth? Wouldn't that be ... interesting?

Bill (the Cat) Lepard
Composing another e-mail for audience relations.

The Great Eastern web has been updated and I think you'll be pleased.
Firstly, Steve Palmer got me the tape for the 1994 New Year's Eve
special--a one-hour program aired Dec. 31, 1994 and never heard from
again. Goodies too numerous to mention in that episode...

Second, I received a dub off the original DAT of the complete Roger
Greeley show from last season. Roger ran way too long for the GE half-hour
so about nine minutes had to be cut. Here it now in its restored form!

Third, there's video of a 30-second television ad prepared for the Great
Eastern but never aired because the team, well, hated it. It's of
historical interest only. You can catch a brief glimpse of the guys at the
end dressed in greatcoats and hombergs....

Fourth: this isn't mentioned on the web site, but I should let list
members know: the rest of season two has been digitized and is available
on the web. (That is episodes two through eight). I've just been too busy
to annotate them or search through the text archives for corresponding
scripts. So, if you want to complete your season two collection, go to

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/episodes/

There's a directory listing of all the files. Season two are named
according to the established convention (ge_s2_02.mp3).

And best wishes for the holiday season.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The Great Eastern web will be down from 4:30 p.m. Friday, Nov. 26 until
9:00 a.m. Monday morning Nov. 29. That's Newfoundland time (GMT -330). The
building I work in is being shut down and sealed for emergency electrical
repairs. So if you need a fix for Saturday morning, better download it.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

The GE web was down for part of the day yesterday and again last night.
There was a major burp on the server that required the reinstallation of
the operating system. It seems to be stable now, but I'm keeping my eye
on it...

There is, however, some new stuff on the site. Yesterday, the GE guys and
myself went over to the Center for Newfoundland Studies here at MUN to
officially hand over a CD with everything off their computers when they
clsed up shop. This is the same set of documents I've been culling scripts
from. It will now be available to researchers at the CNS (they also have a
complete CODCO archive and a lot of other cultural documents). I took a
photo of the handover, which is on the web at

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/

Season Two, Episode One has also been added to the episodes page, but I
was in the middle of doing notes last night at home when the server
died... so they're not up yet.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerry,

I believe The Clash song is called Career Opportunities.

Thanks for all the good work, it's GREAT to be able to hear all the old
episodes, when the show went off the air, I kicked myself for not having
taped more of them.....

Dan

Episode FIve, Season One has been posted to the GE web, and it's a good
one. The student documentary "BCN: Radio's Missing Link" is worth the
price of admission.

That's all of season one done now.

Question to Mack or whomever: I hate to confess this, but I can't remember
the name of the Clash tune and it's not mentioned...anyone?

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

On 17 Nov 1999 enosewor@... wrote:

> Or is it that brassy funk thing ?
>
> Tim Dixon wanted to know who played the theme for
> Wordworks, and I believe it was a group called Brass
> Roots.  Can't remember the disc name or song title.
>
> Mack

Thanks, Mack. HMV lists two releases for Brass Roots, a self-titled album,
Cat. # BRCD001; and "Laconda Rift", Cat. # BRCD101. Both are special
orders. The release dates are identical Jan 1, 1960 -- I expect that's a
database error. No mention of them at Amazon, Chapters, or Sam the Record
Man....

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Or is it that brassy funk thing ?

Tim Dixon wanted to know who played the theme for
Wordworks, and I believe it was a group called Brass
Roots.  Can't remember the disc name or song title.

Mack

I just remembered an interview Avril Benoit did with Paul Moth some time ago,
while Avril was co-host of This Morning
with Michael Enright.  It wrapped up with Paul and Avril jumping each other. I
only heard the tail end of it, and I
think reference was made to the incident in later GE episodes. Ironic that both
are now gone from the CBC.

Gerry, have you heard that clip? Anyone have a copy of it?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Dixon
timdixon@...
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry:

Having a listen to the new, improved versions of E1 + E2. Thanks for taking the
time to re-record them! I noticed a very
quiet conversation in the background of the original recording of E1, towards
the end. It's gone in the new version.

Music question: had a look at the playlist and couldn't seem to find the piece
that's played to introduce the Word Works
segment. It's a tuba playing a funk bass line, joined by a sax later. Do you
know the name of the piece?

Thanks. See you soon (thump) in the vault.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Dixon
timdixon@...
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Sat, 13 Nov 1999, Don Pardy wrote:

> Gerry.
>
> It's Saturday morning and you can guess what's playing on my stereo right
> now.

The B Minor Mass? :)

> Anyhow, I'm working on a homepage and I'd like to advertise the GE web site.
> Do you have a graphic I can use?

I did some last season that the CBC used on their home page occasionally.
They're small -- 110 pixels square or so. You're welcome to them. They're
at:

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/images/icons/

While I'm here, I should mention that episode three of GE season one is
digitized and in the episodes directory:

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/episodes/

I just haven't had a chance to write up any notes on it yet, so it's not
mentioned on the web page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerry.

It's Saturday morning and you can guess what's playing on my stereo right
now.

Anyhow, I'm working on a homepage and I'd like to advertise the GE web site.
Do you have a graphic I can use?

Don.

...is now officially posted. A great show...lots of first time
appearances: Morris Jesso, Blaine Hart, Carl Pilgrim, shoe fetishes. I
could go on. Go grab it:

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/episodes.html

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I must say I am glad to have this forum for the Great Eastern, and the
therefore faint hope it will return in some form or other on the
airwaves.  In the mean time, I'm grateful to Gerry for putting episodes
on line.  I think it would be cool if one had access to all the good
stuff from CBC's history:  The Frantics,  Radio Free Vestibule, the
radio plays etc.  Does anyone know of a site or sites that have old CBC
stuff in mp3?


Spencer Capier

Gerry:

You mentioned you wanted to know about levels on the mp3 files. I have to agree
that the levels on episode 1 are a bit
on the low side; when you have more time, you could bump the levels up a bit.
However, it's nothing worth worrying about
for the time being.

It was terrific to hear episode one - looking forward to hearing the rest as you
post them. Your sainthood is in the
mail.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Dixon
timdixon@...
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ICQ#: 13098000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On 5 Nov 1999 tige@... wrote:

> I used the mp3 file and the quality is awesome, but the level is a
> little low. It may be the program I am using (FreeAmp). I may try another if
> I have time.

I'm interested in any reports on sound quality and levels. The file peaks
out at about -3 dB, which should be right, but if it seems consistently
low, I can make adjustments. I'm using Sonique--great player--might even
do a GE skin for it if I get time.

> Are your plans to post every episode? Personally, I hope so.

Absolutely. Number two is done, and when I get the notes and roll together
I'll post it next week. I can't guarantee how consistently I'll be doing
this, but I'll say "on a regular basis". Steve Palmer graciously lent me a
box of tapes for this project.

> Gerry, I noticed that the run time of this episode is nearly an hour, was that
> the original format or was it just the first episode? I have listened to CBC
> on saturday mornings sporadically since the Frantics held that time slot and
> for some reason I don't recall the first few seasons of The GE. You providing
> these episodes is a godsend!

Yeah. GE was a summer replacement series at first. Five one-hour episodes
in 1994 and seven in 1995 plus a New Year's Special. Many parts of them
have been repackaged for half-hour repeat shows in later seasons. They're
intact here.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

I am saving the first episode to my hard drive as I type. A thousand
thank-yous Gerry for going through all this effort for greateasternaholics.

As for all the mp3 folks with fast connections or a need for mp3 storage,
I'm using a site called MyPlay.com to store mp3 files. They allow you to
store 250MB of mp3 files free of charge. And they ask for very little
personal information (unlike many "free" web services). Thought I'd mention,
just in case storage space is an issue for anyone.

Don.

Gerry,

You rock man, finding the mp3 file of the first episode to ever air on CBC
(at least that is what I am lead to believe, and I simply don't care) on
the web site made my day! I have been looking for sources of audio forever
it seems. I used the mp3 file and the quality is awesome, but the level is a
little low. It may be the program I am using (FreeAmp). I may try another if
I have time.

Are your plans to post every episode? Personally, I hope so.

Gerry, I noticed that the run time of this episode is nearly an hour, was that
the original format or was it just the first episode? I have listened to CBC
on saturday mornings sporadically since the Frantics held that time slot and
for some reason I don't recall the first few seasons of The GE. You providing
these episodes is a godsend!

Thanks much
Tige

Have a good weekend.

A treat for the weekend: I've posted the complete show of Season One,
Episode One on the GE archive. The address

http://spring.det.mun.ca/great/

will get you there. Thanks to Mack, Steve and Ed for access to the old
text files, and to Glen Tilley for confirming the correct airdate.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Gerry:

I think it's terrific that you're taking the time to digitize all the episodes
and post them. If there's any way I can
be of help, let me know, although I suspect this is kind of a one-man job.

May you be heralded in song as Paul Moth's great ancestor, Moth of Ucker!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Tim Dixon
timdixon@...
Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
ICQ#: 13098000
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gerry,

I have a CD burner at work which I know I can use. I am not very familiar
with creating audio CD's but I know it won't take long to figure out. I
would be more than happy to contribute in some way.

Tige

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Porter [mailto:gporter@...]
Sent: Tuesday, November 02, 1999 7:48 PM
To: Greateastern@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [Greateastern] Hi from Detroit!


From: Gerry Porter <gporter@...>


On Tue, 2 Nov 1999 ewujcik@... wrote:

> A couple of questions for you all:
>
> 1. Does anyone have anything like a complete list (playlist) of the shows?

Sadly, no. But I will be working on piecing it together. Tomorrow, I'm
getting the first two seasons (14 one hour shows) and will start the
digitizing process. There will be some scripts as well.

> 2. Do any of you have audio tapes of various Great Easterns? I've got a
> start on a collection, with 20 tapes of 90-minutes each, but not all of
them
> are great
> in quality (reception in Detroit can be less than ideal), and I'm missing
> quite a lot,
> especially from the first two years, and from the last year.

See above. Eventually the archive will be complete--that is, entire shows
in real audio and mp3 formats. I do have tapes, but no way to dub them.
Strangely enough, it's easier for me to cut a cd than dub a tape (go
figure)...If you know someone with a cd burner, it's not hard to go
MP3-->CD audio...

> One last note. I'm leaving for China day after tomorrow, and I won't be
> back
> until the end of November. Hopefully we'll have a roaring community by the
> time I
> get back...
>
> Later,
>
> Erick

Have a great trip!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Community email addresses:
   Post message: Greateastern@onelist.com
   Subscribe:    Greateastern-subscribe@onelist.com
   Unsubscribe:  Greateastern-unsubscribe@onelist.com
   List owner:   Greateastern-owner@onelist.com

Shortcut URL to this page:
   http://www.onelist.com/community/Greateastern

On Tue, 2 Nov 1999, cfeeley wrote:

> Hi all,
>  I would kill for some Great Eastern tapes, since when I moved from
> idyllic Nova Scotia to hellish Los Angeles one of my dumbest decisions was

Be careful. Look what happened to Paul Moth.

> to think that I had no room to pack my recorded tapes of some of the Great
> Eastern shows.  If anyone has good quality tapes and is willing to copy
> them and post them (I would pay for the blank tapes and the postage) I
> would be able to cope with L.A. a bit better... (sniff sniff!).

As I said in an earlier post, I can't help with tapes, but I'm seriously
workin' on the complete show archive, starting with season one.

>  Is the Great Eastern really only appreciated by a few?  I kept
> bombarding the CBC with e-mails to try to tell them not to cut the Great
> Eastern, but they seemed to think it was not "accessible" enough to the
> common radio listener...
>  - Catherine Feeley.

As one CBC newsgroup poster so eloquently put it earlier this year, CBC
management are "criminally insane". 'nuff said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

On Tue, 2 Nov 1999 ewujcik@... wrote:

> A couple of questions for you all:
>
> 1. Does anyone have anything like a complete list (playlist) of the shows?

Sadly, no. But I will be working on piecing it together. Tomorrow, I'm
getting the first two seasons (14 one hour shows) and will start the
digitizing process. There will be some scripts as well.

> 2. Do any of you have audio tapes of various Great Easterns? I've got a
> start on a collection, with 20 tapes of 90-minutes each, but not all of them
> are great
> in quality (reception in Detroit can be less than ideal), and I'm missing
> quite a lot,
> especially from the first two years, and from the last year.

See above. Eventually the archive will be complete--that is, entire shows
in real audio and mp3 formats. I do have tapes, but no way to dub them.
Strangely enough, it's easier for me to cut a cd than dub a tape (go
figure)...If you know someone with a cd burner, it's not hard to go
MP3-->CD audio...

> One last note. I'm leaving for China day after tomorrow, and I won't be
> back
> until the end of November. Hopefully we'll have a roaring community by the
> time I
> get back...
>
> Later,
>
> Erick

Have a great trip!

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Catherine,

>  I would kill for some Great Eastern tapes, since when I moved from
> idyllic Nova Scotia to hellish Los Angeles one of my dumbest decisions
was
> to think that I had no room to pack my recorded tapes of some of the
Great
> Eastern shows.  If anyone has good quality tapes and is willing to copy
> them and post them (I would pay for the blank tapes and the postage) I
> would be able to cope with L.A. a bit better... (sniff sniff!).

I'll be happy to copy tapes and mail 'em. They aren't all good quality, but
there are a lot of 'em.

Let me know if you are still interested when I'm back from China in
December...

Erick

Hi all,
	 I would kill for some Great Eastern tapes, since when I moved from
idyllic Nova Scotia to hellish Los Angeles one of my dumbest decisions was
to think that I had no room to pack my recorded tapes of some of the Great
Eastern shows.  If anyone has good quality tapes and is willing to copy
them and post them (I would pay for the blank tapes and the postage) I
would be able to cope with L.A. a bit better... (sniff sniff!).
	 Is the Great Eastern really only appreciated by a few?  I kept
bombarding the CBC with e-mails to try to tell them not to cut the Great
Eastern, but they seemed to think it was not "accessible" enough to the
common radio listener...
	 - Catherine Feeley.

Dear Gerry and All,

Oh, wow!

You have no idea how delighted I am to be addressing so many Great Eastern
fans. For years I've felt like a voice in the wilderness. Yes, I've managed
to create
a few new fans (in places far from Canada), but that's not quite the same.

So, thanks to Gerry for putting up the website, and for creating this
forum.

A couple of questions for you all:

1. Does anyone have anything like a complete list (playlist) of the shows?

2. Do any of you have audio tapes of various Great Easterns? I've got a
start on a collection, with 20 tapes of 90-minutes each, but not all of them
are great
in quality (reception in Detroit can be less than ideal), and I'm missing
quite a lot,
especially from the first two years, and from the last year.

One last note. I'm leaving for China day after tomorrow, and I won't be
back
until the end of November. Hopefully we'll have a roaring community by the
time I
get back...

Later,

Erick

Erick Wujcik
P.O. Box 310519
Detroit MI 48231-0519 USA

alternate e-mail: erick_wujcik@...

That is great news. I don't know if you recall, but quite a while ago I
think I asked you if there would be, at any time, out-takes from the shows'
production available. Can you provide any insight for me? Replying to my
direct email address may be more appropriate. Maybe, maybe not.

Is it coal-fired internet access?
Now that would be a wonder of the world.

Thanks
Tige

-----Original Message-----
From: Gerry Porter [mailto:gporter@...]
Sent: Friday, October 29, 1999 10:59 AM
To: Greateastern@onelist.com
Subject: Re: [Greateastern] Nice Surprise


From: Gerry Porter <gporter@...>


I know that at least Mack Furlong and Steve Palmer have internet access,
and one or both will probably sign up...

I know that at least Mack Furlong and Steve Palmer have internet access,
and one or both will probably sign up...

On 29 Oct 1999 tige@... wrote:

> From: tige@...
>
> Hello and Thanks Gerry,
>
> I was pleasantly surprised to get your message regarding a GE forum and signed
> up immediately. It will be interesting to see what shows up, it appears to be
> quite new. It will also be a change to meet someone else with my enthusiasm
for
> the show. Of all my friends, save one back home in Saskatoon, I am the only
one
> who, perhaps in a really warped way, appreciated and loved Newfoundlands'
> Cultural Magazine. All my friends just shake their heads as I laugh my ass off
> at 'Up the Bomba' or 'Elmer Collins' or whatever it may be.
>
> Gerry, do you know if the writer(s) of the show plan to make an appearance
here?
>
> Thanks
> Tige

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------

Hello and Thanks Gerry,

I was pleasantly surprised to get your message regarding a GE forum and signed
up immediately. It will be interesting to see what shows up, it appears to be
quite new. It will also be a change to meet someone else with my enthusiasm for
the show. Of all my friends, save one back home in Saskatoon, I am the only one
who, perhaps in a really warped way, appreciated and loved Newfoundlands'
Cultural Magazine. All my friends just shake their heads as I laugh my ass off
at 'Up the Bomba' or 'Elmer Collins' or whatever it may be.

Gerry, do you know if the writer(s) of the show plan to make an appearance here?

Thanks
Tige

Welcome to the Great Eastern forum. This is a place where fans of the
1994-99 CBC radio program can discuss the show, Newfoundland's erstwhile
Cultural Magazine, it's host Paul Moth, the Broadcasting Corporation of
Newfoundland, and the myriad characters and places that make up the BCN
universe.

I maintain the GE web archive and since the show was officially cancelled,
I've received hundreds of letters lamenting the loss of one of the
funniest radio programs ever. I believe the CBC has been made aware of
it's profound shortsightedness judging from the many many complaints to
the Corp people have copied to me as well. And the GE inbox--well, I've
heard its out of control. In short, there are many, many fans of
intelligent, well-written comedy out there for whom the GE held great
appeal.

"To the lifeboats, seeker..."

--------------------------------------------------------------------
Gerry Porter 	 	 Phone:  709-737-7575/2380
School of Continuing Education 	  Fax:    709-737-4635
Memorial University of Newfoundland www.ce.mun.ca/staff/gporter
             "The opposite of a profound truth may well be
                another profound truth." -- Niels Bohr
--------------------------------------------------------------------