An interview with Stuart McLean of the Vinyl Café
Stuart McLean's photo courtesy of the Vinyl Cafe website
In addition to his work in radio, McLean is a prolific and bestselling author; professor emeritus at Ryerson University in Toronto and former director of the broadcast division of the School of Journalism; and three time winner of Canada’s Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour . His most recent books feature stories about the fictional couple Dave and Morley, and their family, friends, and neighbors; the Dave and Morley stories are a highlight of the radio program. You can listen to excerpts from the Vinyl Café by following the “HOW TO LISTEN” link at the website, http://www.cbc.ca/vinylcafe/home.php
[A vague disclaimer is nobody's friend: I'd intended to record this interview, but due to technical difficulties (i.e. operator ineptitude) I fell back on good old-fashioned note-taking. Any omissions, misstatements, or errors are entirely due to my horrific handwriting and obscure abbreviations, and should not reflect upon Mr. McLean, who was patient, thoughtful, and intelligent.]
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Seattle MetBlogs: First and foremost, do you consider yourself a radio personality, a humorist, a writer… a professional Canadian?
Stuart McLean: I very much consider myself a writer, though I’ve worked in radio for 30-odd years. It’s a precious gift for a writer to experience that connection to their audience, a writer is lucky to get that. [Touring,] I am able to stand on stage and be there at the moment of giving and receiving, and it becomes a collaboration. I work with the work. I’ve been a guy who works on the radio, but if you told me I could do only one thing, I would be a writer.
Seattle MetBlogs: Where did the Vinyl Café, and Dave and Morley, come from? Did you develop the characters specifically for the show, or did they come together over time?
Stuart McLean: It was part of my evolution as a writer. I began a serious journalist; I did documentaries for many years, very serious documentaries for CBC Radio’s Sunday Morning, and after a decade I sort of conquered them. And that… I think that as a writer, an artist, I wanted to skate on thin ice.
So, for another decade, I did first-person essays on the radio, I became an essayist. As an essayist I found my voice as a writer. Then a friend, a music producer approached me…
Seattle MetBlogs: Yes, the music—you really promote young Canadian musicians on your show.
Stuart McLean: My show has been a publicly funded show—the CBC is a public radio station. I was being backed by the people of Canada and I felt I had to give back in some way, and one area that interested me was young, up-and-coming musicians. I’ve always like working with young people, so it was self-serving in some ways–I taught for many years and I enjoyed that.
At some point in life one tends to close oneself off to music and that certainly happened to me. By doing this, it forced me to become comfortable and educated in new music. Now, I feel… I listen to new music and I understand and enjoy it. I am more open. It was a voyage of discovery for me.
Seattle MetBlogs: Why did you choose Seattle to launch the touring Café in the U.S.?
Stuart McLean: Jeff Hanson and KUOW were the first people [in the U.S.] to pick up the show, and it has done incredibly well. Now, you can go to a market and show how well it’s done, how ratings go up, but people in Seattle didn’t have a background, and they, KUOW, they were very brave. I feel intense loyalty and a great gratitude to them; it’s a way of acknowledging a debt. It’s about loyalty.
The reception we received in Seattle was overwhelming. The applause was something… when we came out on stage I felt a real intense affection… or, openness from the audience. It felt very much like meeting a relative you’ve never met before, but there is an instant bond. A desire on both sides to form a connection.
I believe there is this grand conversation between Canada and America, Canadians and Americans, a conversation that’s been reserved for business and politicians, and there is this longing to connect. In a small way, the show is a way of vocalizing that.
Seattle MetBlogs: So, assuming there is one thing you would like the show to accomplish, what would that be?
Stuart McLean: I think it would be presumptuous, but I would like to contribute to that conversation. The first year [of the Vinyl Café] there was a Washington schoolteacher who called, she phoned us, asking, “I would like listeners to write to our students to tell them about their towns.” Letters poured in, by the tens, then the thousands. They [the teacher and students] promised to reply to each letter, and they did. The teacher started a Canada-America friendship [web]site, and visitors from Canada went to the school to meet them. Not thousands, but… It became this huge thing, but it happened because of the show.
Those are the sort of small, unimportant conversations that will have ripples, and I believe ripples are important, that the unimportant is important.
We offer a different sensibility and point of view to our American listeners. Being able to listen is incredibly important: once you open the floodgates, you can’t not be open anymore.
Understanding is a very powerful thing. Many, many, many of us have defined ourselves as “not Americans”—it’s a very easy step to become anti-American and miss all the goodness. I’m delighted to point out great things to each country about the other. Love is not just reserved for our next door neighbor—it’s all people…
Seattle MetBlogs: A global neighbor?
Stuart McLean: …yes, it’s a global neighbor… I don’t have any grandiose ideas, but I believe in being bricks in the wall of human kindness and cooperation. In building rather than taking down.
But mostly I’m consumed by “am I funny? Is this funny?” That’s what I think about. I’m don’t usually think of these sorts of philosophical things; your questions are making me think about it, and… it’s there, but it’s not what I’m thinking about when I’m writing.
Seattle MetBlogs: Okay, so a less philosophical question—is there anything you want to see or do while you are in Seattle? Had you been to Seattle before last year’s show? You must have…
Stuart McLean: No, that was my first visit; I’d never been to Seattle before.
Seattle MetBlogs: Okay, I’m surprised, sorry.
Stuart McLean: Yes. I’m in the middle of a tour– I don’t know what the schedule is, we don’t have a lot of time, but there is a big push to get there the day before, as early as we can. I want to wander around the Market—listeners have sent in suggestions: there is a hardware store…
Seattle MetBlogs: A hardware store? Downtown?
Stuart McLean: Yes, it’s supposed to be a very special hardware store. We’ll just walk around, we like to walk.
It has become a special stop; it’s a deal for us. We’re all very much looking forward to Seattle. Seattle is… you ask people who fly planes, pilots, what gets their attention: Seattle gets our attention.
Great interview. I can’t get enough of the Vinyl Cafe.