The Vinyl Cafe is an hour-long

radio Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmit ...

variety show Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical theatre, musical performances, sketch comedy, magic (illusion), magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is ...

hosted by

Stuart McLean Andrew Stuart McLean, (April 19, 1948 – February 15, 2017) was a Canadian radio broadcaster, humorist, monologist, and author, best known as the host of the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe''.CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

and was syndicated to approximately 80 U.S. public radio stations through

Public Radio International Public Radio International (PRI) was an American public radio organization. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, PRI provided programming to over 850 public radio stations in the United States. PRI was one of the main providers of programm ...

. It aired on Sunday at noon EST and Tuesday at 11:00 pm EST on

CBC Radio One CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Ca ...

and Saturday at 9 am EST on

CBC Radio 2 CBC Music (formerly known as CBC FM, CBC Stereo and CBC Radio 2) is a Canadian FM radio network operated by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It used to concentrate on classical and jazz. In 2007 and 2008, the network transitioned towards a ...

. The program is also available as a

podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

, although the podcasts are usually just McLean's stories for studio episodes because of copyright restrictions on recorded music. CBC Radio also formerly aired a separate weekday afternoon program, under the title ''Vinyl Cafe Stories'', which consisted of two previously recorded Dave and Morley stories per episode. The show was produced independently by McLean and sold to the CBC. Each season had approximately 22 new episodes. Half of those were recorded in the studio and the other half were done with live audiences in theatres across Canada and the United States. One episode was recorded onboard

VIA Rail Via Rail Canada Inc. (), operating as Via Rail or Via, is a Canadian Crown corporation that is mandated to operate intercity passenger rail service in Canada. It receives an annual subsidy from Transport Canada to offset the cost of operating ...

's transcontinental passenger train ''

The Canadian ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

'' from the dome observation car, complete with an audience of passengers and featured a

rail travel Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a pre ...

theme. The musical guest was singer songwriter Reid Jamieson. ''The Vinyl Cafe'' stopped touring and producing new episodes following McLean's diagnosis with

melanoma Melanoma, also redundantly known as malignant melanoma, is a type of skin cancer that develops from the pigment-producing cells known as melanocytes. Melanomas typically occur in the skin, but may rarely occur in the mouth, intestines, or eye ( ...

in November 2015. McLean announced on December 13, 2016, that he required a second round of treatment, meaning further delay in producing new episodes, and that repeats of past shows would stop airing on

effective January 2017 to "make room for others to share their work on the radio." McLean died on February 15, 2017.

Content

The radio show features essays, short stories, and music; while frequently humorous, the weekly programs often feature wistfully nostalgic Canadiana. Often performed as a live show from local venues across Canada, the show often begins with a complimentary sketch of the venue's community that, "capture the beauty, history and poetry of Canada’s landscape and people." These "Postcards from Canada" have been likened the "collection to a family photo album that captures everyday life in Canada." A major feature of many of McLean's shows were the "Dave and Morley Stories", which featured a fictional Toronto family. The name "Vinyl Cafe" referred both to the show's musical content and the fictional record shop owned by McLean's character Dave. This aspect of the show had spawned a number of books of short stories, as well as audio recordings. Another feature was "The Vinyl Cafe Story Exchange", where listeners were invited to send in personal true stories to the producers who read selections on air. The series also presented an annual set of awards that were called the "Arthur Awards", which were intended to commend various people who had performed extraordinary good deeds of a small personal nature in the preceding year. Every episode ended with McLean's signature sign-off, "I'm Stuart McLean, so long for now" and followed by the show's folksy guitar theme song, "Happy Meeting In Glory" (as performed by

Ry Cooder Ryland Peter "Ry" Cooder (born March 15, 1947) is an American musician, songwriter, film score composer, record producer, and writer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but is best known for his slide guitar work, his interest in traditional music, an ...

). The show was produced by Jess Milton. Meg Masters was the "long-suffering" story editor and the show's founding producer was Dave Amer. Julie Penner was the musical director. Since 2012 the show has also aired a "best of" spin-off series under the new title of Vinyl Cafe Stories. It features previously recorded stories about Dave and Morley and organized around a common theme, and with one or two studio-recorded musical tracks, but without the live music or local introductions typical of the original run of the show.

Dave and Morley Stories

Although they are not featured in every episode of ''The Vinyl Cafe'', the " Dave and Morley Stories" were by far the show's most famous segment. The stories, written and read by McLean, himself, described the many misadventures of Dave, his wife Morley, their children and pets, as well as friends and neighbours. For his live performances, McLean often altered his more well-known stories to keep his audience engaged. Today, selected performances are replayed on the

current affairs show, '' The Current'', as holiday programming.

Collections of stories in book form

Canadian Editions * ''Stories from the Vinyl Cafe'' (Penguin Books Canada, 1995, updated and revised edition, 2005) * '' Home from the Vinyl Cafe'' (Penguin Books, 1998) * '' Vinyl Cafe Unplugged'' (Penguin Books, 2001) * ''

Vinyl Cafe Diaries ''Vinyl Cafe Diaries'' (2003) is Stuart McLean's fourth volume of stories that first aired on the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe The Vinyl Cafe is an hour-long radio variety show hosted by Stuart McLean that was broadcast on CBC Radio and ...

'' (Penguin Books, 2003) * ''Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe'' (Penguin Books, 2006) * ''Extreme Vinyl Cafe'' (Viking, 2009) * ''

Revenge of The Vinyl Cafe ''Revenge of the Vinyl Cafe'' (2012) is Stuart McLean's fifth book of stories that first aired on the CBC Radio program ''The Vinyl Cafe''. It debuted at #1 in ''The Globe and Mail''’s bestseller list. It is the only book in the ''Vinyl Cafe'' ...

'' (Penguin Books, 2012) * ''Vinyl Cafe Turns the Page'' (Penguin Books, 2015) US Editions * ''Home from the Vinyl Cafe'' (Simon & Schuster, 2005) UK Editions * ''Home from the Vinyl Cafe'' (Granta, 2005) * ''Vinyl Cafe Unplugged'' (Granta, 2006) * The US and UK editions of ''Home from the Vinyl Cafe'' are a compilation of stories from the Canadian editions, ''Stories from the Vinyl Cafe'' and ''Home from the Vinyl Cafe''.

Collections of stories in audio form

* ''At the Vinyl Cafe: The Christmas Concert'' (1997) * ''

Vinyl Cafe Stories ''Vinyl Cafe Stories'' (1998) is a two-CD album by Stuart McLean released in 1998 by Vinyl Cafe Productions. These stories were recorded in concert at Glenn Gould Studio at The CBC Broadcasting Centre in Toronto during 1997 and 1998, at the Centr ...

'' (1998) * ''

The Vinyl Cafe On Tour ''The Vinyl Cafe On Tour'' (1999) is a two-CD album by Stuart McLean released by Vinyl Cafe Productions. This collection of stories was taken from CBC Radio concerts that were taped in St. John's, Halifax, Guelph, Calgary, and Victoria. Recorded ...

'' (1999) * ''

Vinyl Cafe Odd Jobs ''Vinyl Cafe Odd Jobs'' (2001) is a two-CD album by Stuart McLean released by Vinyl Cafe Productions. This collection of stories was taken from CBC Radio concerts that were recorded in Burgessville, Lindsay, Markham, and Toronto in Ontario; in Sh ...

'' (2001) * ''

Vinyl Cafe Inc. Coast to Coast Story Service ''Vinyl Cafe Inc. Coast to Coast Story Service'' (2002) is a two-CD album by Stuart McLean released by Vinyl Cafe Productions. This collection of stories was taken from CBC Radio concerts that were recorded in Banff, Calgary, Toronto, Kingston, a ...

'' (2002) * '' A Story-Gram from Vinyl Cafe Inc.'' (2004) * ''Vinyl Cafe: A Christmas Collection'' (2005) * ''An Important Message from the Vinyl Cafe'' (2007) * ''The Vinyl Cafe Storyland'' (2008) * ''Planet Boy'' (2009) * ''Out and About'' (2010) * ''

Vinyl Cafe Family Pack The ''Vinyl Cafe Family Pack'' (2011) is a 4-CD album by Stuart McLean released by Vinyl Cafe Productions. This is a collection of some of the most requested " Dave and Morley Stories", featuring the family at the centre of the popular CBC Radio ...

'' (2011) * ''Vinyl Cafe New Stories'' (2013) * ''Vinyl Cafe Seasons'' (2015) * ''Up and Away'' (2016) * ''The Unreleased Stories'' (2017) The covers of the Canadian editions of ''Vinyl Cafe Diaries'', ''Secrets from the Vinyl Cafe'', ''The Vinyl Cafe Coast to Coast Story Service'' and ''A Story-gram from the Vinyl Cafe'' were designed and illustrated by noted writer, artist and cartoonist

Seth Seth,; el, Σήθ ''Sḗth''; ; "placed", "appointed") in Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Mandaeism, and Sethianism, was the third son of Adam and Eve and brother of Cain and Abel, their only other child mentioned by name in the Hebrew Bible. A ...

. McLean's ''Vinyl Cafe'' stories can also be purchased in audio form from the web label

Zunior Zunior.com is a Canadian online independent record label and music store founded in 2004 by Dave Ullrich, formerly of The Inbreds.podcast A podcast is a program made available in digital format for download over the Internet. For example, an episodic series of digital audio or video files that a user can download to a personal device to listen to at a time of their choosing ...

at the ''Vinyl Cafe'' website.

Collections of essays in book form

*'' The Vinyl Cafe Notebooks'' (October 2010, Viking)

Reception

In 2011,

Apple An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...

announced their "Best of the Year" awards and ''The Vinyl Cafe'' podcast was chosen as the best audio podcast of the year.

References

External links

''The Vinyl Cafe''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vinyl Cafe CBC Radio One programs CBC Music programs Canadian comedy radio programs Audio podcasts Year of establishment missing 1994 radio programme debuts 2015 radio programme endings Variety shows Canadian music radio programs