Item AAAB2882 - Arthur Helps interview

CALL NUMBER: T2641:0001 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Early years and personal background of Arthur Helps PERIOD COVERED: 1912-1940 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Born in Toronto in 1912. Early memories and family background. Family moved to Prairies, father was a missionary for the Presbyterian Church. Father went to work for Columbia Records and sold some of the first musical disc recordings in the Canadian West. Moved to B.C. in the 1920s. Early education in Regina and Vancouver. M.J. Coldwell was principal of school in Regina. Work and the Depression in Vancouver. TRACK 2: Arthur Helps' adventures at sea. Joining the militia. Harsh discipline at sea with the merchant marine. Camaraderie among crew with the British merchant marine. Adventure in the Mediterranean. Return to B.C. Efforts to secure employment in B.C. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0002 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Early career of Arthur Helps PERIOD COVERED: 1930-1943 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Seeks career in the military. Early political interests -- was on the executive of the B.C. Young Liberals. Life in the militia. Ian Mackenzie as federal Minister of National Defence. Conditions in the Army. Vancouver and work in the post office. Harsh conditions of working postal routes in Vancouver. Marriage. Attempts to go into business in Vancouver. TRACK 2: Entry into Armed Forces. Life in Point Grey Armed Forces Camp. Helps' conflicts in the Armed Forces. Agitation for pay for soldiers. Helps leaves the Army, attempts to enter the R.C.A.F. but joins the Irish Fusiliers. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0003 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Genesis of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1932-1950 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Army life with the Irish Fusiliers, 2nd Battalion. Helps attained rank of Staff Sergeant. Was denied service outside of B.C. because of physical impairment. Discharge from Army. History of the idea of Town Meeting of the Air. Vancouver's radio audience in the 1940s. Top stations were CJOR and CKWX. CBC represents a system of thought control. TRACK 2: Broadcasting in Canada was behind the times. Helps favours American institution of freedom of speech. CJOR in Vancouver. The founding of the CBC in the 1930s. Ira Dilworth as regional director of CBC. Helps meets George Denny, moderator of Town Meeting of the Air in America. Description of the administration and operation of America's Town Meeting of the Air. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0004 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Arthur Helps' political background PERIOD COVERED: 1940-1960 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: While working in the Attorney-General's department in 1945, Helps assists in forming the B.C. Government Employees Association. Idea behind the Association. Helps claims that the government was quite cooperative with the efforts to form an employee association. Helps' involvement with the Credit Union movement in B.C. Some of the early successes and failures of the Credit Union movement in B.C. TRACK 2: Arthur Helps' politics. Helps ran as a Liberal in the 1953 federal election in Vancouver-Kingsway against Angus MacInnis. He was not successful. He also ran in the provincial election of 1960 as a Liberal in Delta. Was again defeated, this time by the C.C.F. candidate. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0005 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Origins of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1940-1945 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Origins of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada. George Denny persuades Helps to start his own show in Vancouver. The problems in getting the show on the air. Opposition of CBC; negotiations with CKWX; skeptical cooperation of CJOR. First program of its kind in Canada. Discussion of early broadcast regulations. Leon Ladner assisted in raising funds for the program. Support for the program in its early stages was widespread despite opposition from established radio interests. Helps' views on the CBC and opposition to state-controlled broadcasting. TRACK 2: Show had surprisingly high ratings right from the start. How ratings were calculated. Program was broadcast throughout the country. George Chandler, owner of CJOR, and his attitude toward the program. Early history of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0006 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Early years of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada : 1943 - 1947 PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1947 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Town Meeting of the Air in Canada commenced broadcasting from CJOR in 1943. The show grew in popularity greatly during the early period, 1943-1947. It was broadcast on stations across Canada in every province except Quebec. Cooperation between the show and its American counterpart. It was the first Canadian radio program to carry western opinion eastward. At the peak of its popularity the program was broadcast by thirty radio stations in Canada. Administration and operation of the program. July 31, 1947, America's Town Meeting of the Air comes to Vancouver for a special International Broadcast. TRACK 2: The International Broadcast was aired around the world. It was broadcast from Malkin Bowl in Stanley Park. Furor over fact that Dorothy Steeves was one of the Canadian speakers on the program. The federal government failed to provide a speaker for the show. Pressure was applied by Ottawa to prevent Steeves from participating in the program because it was felt that she was not representative of Canadian opinion. Despite all the difficulties, the show was a huge success. The CBC never cooperated. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0007 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Achievements of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1947-1958 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Lack of CBC cooperation and its effect on the International Broadcast of Town Meeting of the Air in Vancouver. Reasons why Helps does not look with favour on the CBC. Estimated listening audience for the special program was 50 million. Process of obtaining speakers for the regular weekly Canadian programs. Recollection of special banquet for Town Meeting of the Air which was attended by a variety of public celebrities. How topics for the show were decided upon. TRACK 2: Topics purposefully avoided. Religious topics. Anecdote about Harold Winch appearing on the program. Anecdote about Colin Cameron and Harold Pritchett almost coming to blows on the show. One of the most sensational shows involved Tim Buck. Problems with the airing of that program. Opposition of the Vancouver business community. Tim Buck was disappointed and upset over how the show was run (he debated on the program with Alex MacDonald) and he subsequently "disappeared". Buck did not appear on the radio again for several months. Topics which were illegal to discuss on radio because of broadcast regulations. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0008 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): History of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1955 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Town Meeting of the Air in Canada was banned by Communist Party of Canada. Helps believes that this was because the CPC did not believe in free speech. Some of the controversial local issues which were discussed on the program. Free speech is the essence of democracy. Helps' presentation to the Massey Royal Commission on broadcasting, 1955. TRACK 2: Helps' criticism of the CBC. CBC's attitude toward Town Meeting of the Air. The CBC is anathema to freedom of broadcasting. Helps discusses the two Town Meeting of the Air programs which were censored. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0009 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Town Meeting of the Air in Canada and Social Credit in B.C. PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1955 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Helps claims that his own involvement in politics did not affect his impartiality as moderator of Town Meeting of the Air. Political allegiances and personalities. Helps claims that his program greatly facilitated the election of B.C.'s first Social Credit government in 1952. Helps discusses many of the Socred personalities who became involved with Town Meeting of the Air: William Rose, Ralph Chetwynd, Eric Martin, Peer Paynter, etc. TRACK 2: Anecdote regarding W.A.C. Bennett's attainment of the leadership of the Social Credit Party. Anecdote regarding Robert Bonner's appearance on Town Meeting of the Air as a Conservative and subsequent entry into the Socred administration. After 1952, the Socreds rarely appeared on the program. Some other memorable programs. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0010 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): Travelling with Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1943-1965 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Story about broadcasting a program from Powell River. Town Meeting of the Air had a tremendous audience in Powell River. The show won an international award for the program recorded there. Helps discusses his travels throughout B.C. and Canada with Town Meeting of the Air. TRACK 2: Helps continues discussion of the history of Town Meeting of the Air as it travelled from coast to coast. Anecdotes about particular shows in St. John's, Newfoundland. CALL NUMBER: T2641:0011 SUPPLIED TITLE OF TAPE(S): The decline of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada PERIOD COVERED: 1969-1971 RECORDED: [location unknown], 1977 SUMMARY: TRACK 1: Helps explains why Town Meeting of the Air left the air in 1971. Lack of sponsorship and money matters were important factors. Helps believes that Town Meeting of the Air was going against the trends in radio broadcasting. Censorship of the program made it a difficult show to sponsor. TRACK 2: Television had superceded radio and it helped to eclipse a program like Town Meeting of the Air. CJOR, and the internal politics of the station, did not hinder the program. The achievement of Town Meeting of the Air in Canada.