Reid's Christmas show on CJAD still popular, half a century later
Son recalls how radio icon put his heart and soul into the much-loved broadcasts
Paul Reid left CJAD 43 years ago, but his annual Christmas show remains a timeless radio classic for Montrealers.
Paul Reid's Christmas show is still broadcast every year on the 800 AM station where he worked until 1977. It aired on Dec. 5 and CJAD will rebroadcast the show Dec. 25 (4-7 p.m.) as part of its holiday programming.
“It is definitely the most requested holiday program,” said Chris Bury, CJAD'S news and program director. “We start getting requests and inquiries in late November.”
Reid, who died in 1983 at the age of 56, cut his teeth at Ontario radio stations in Peterborough (CHEX) and Hamilton (CHML) before hitting the airwaves in Montreal in 1964.
Blessed with a deep silky voice and the cadence of a Shakespearean actor, Reid became something of a radio legend in Montreal, where Gordon Lightfoot and Nat King Cole were among his guests. Reid's sign-off message — “the night is ours” — became his trademark expression.
In 2017, CJAD honoured him as a member of its Hall of Fame, alongside the likes of George Balcan, Gord Sinclair and Ted Blackman. Reid was also inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame in 2007.
Mike Reid says listening to his father's feel-good show about family Christmases past never gets old.
“I've listened to that show hundreds of times and I always find something different,” said Reid, a 68-year-old resident of St-lazare. “Certain parts of it always get me misted up. It makes me miss my parents desperately.”
Mike, a video and sound producer, has helped keep his father's memory alive by selling remastered CD copies of his Christmas shows. A portion of the sales go to children's hospitals in Montreal and funding scout camp for kids.
“I've probably had about 50 orders so far this year,” said Reid.
“That's when you know you have something unique and timeless. When all these years after my father's passing, people are saying I want this because this is something I want to pass it on to my kids. There is something visceral about that.”
Reid said his father had a Grade 6 education, but worked hard to hone his craft. He also had natural gifts suited to radio.
“First of all, it's his voice. There was a timbre to it. In those days you had to have a distinct, deeper voice to be even hired.
“It's also the way he reads, the pauses he puts in. Those pauses are worth a thousand words. That's an art. The pauses are there for effect, so the previous thought can sink in. And then they cleanse the palate for the next taste.”
Mike Reid said his father poured his heart and soul into his annual Christmas show.
“My Dad obsessed with the show. He'd start preparing around Nov. 1. Two weeks before that my mother (June) would tell us to walk on eggshells because `Your dad is focused on the Christmas show,' which is really hard when you have six rambunctious kids in the house and two that want to be rock stars.”
The show was usually broadcast live each year on Dec. 1. It signalled the unofficial start of holiday festivities for many Montrealers.
Some would begin baking Christmas goodies while listening to the show, others would huddle around the radio to hear Reid's inimitable rendition of The Littlest Angel.
The staff at CJAD also created a spiritual mood inside the studio, said Reid.
“On Dec. 1, my Dad would go to the station and they would have decorated the studio with a Christmas tree and candles and the lights were down low. There'd be just the engineer and him. The rest was by instinct.”
Mike Reid, one of six children, has his own indelible memories of family Christmases while growing up in Pointe-claire or the Greendale neighbourhood in Pierrefonds.
“For much of the 1960s and '70s, that spirit of Christmas sort of seeped into us by osmosis,” he recalled.
“Dad was the spirit, Mom was the cement. Dad set the stage and my Mom made it happen. She worked tirelessly.
“Our house was all bunted up (with decorations) and my Dad would do a terrible job of putting the lights up outside. He had no mechanical ability at all, none whatsoever,” Mike recalled with a laugh.
“We'd get a live tree, which was a family event. The job fell to me, the boy scout, to shorten it and make it fit. My father always held an open house party on Christmas Eve and some people wouldn't leave till 6 a.m.”
Mike Reid said his father, who enjoyed his Scotch and cigars, had an affinity for Montreal. He returned here in the early 1980s to work at CFQR FM, but was eventually befallen by health issues.
“He fell in love with Montreal, he adopted Montreal. He adored the city, the vibrancy of it, and the city loved him back.”
He said his father's Christmas show still resonates with listeners decades later, and will likely again this year due to the deadly pandemic.
“People really want simpler times. That's part of the secret.”
Paul Reid Christmas CDS can be purchased online at www.paulreidchristmas.com.
Certain parts of it always get me misted up. It makes me miss my parents desperately.