Pictures Out of Thin Air

change was inevitable. Eventually the experts, seeing they could make no inroads, paraded sadly out. The air around us lightened, and we got on with our business.

After Dad’s death, my mother was shattered. Grief consumed her to the point that she relied on her instincts in order to survive. She took Dad’s death so terribly hard that for a while her memories became living realities in the present. Her Keith was always with her. Mother had become President of the company and for a time because of her grief it was difficult to make any decisions about the company’s future. Whether or not we should go into television was one of the most difficult decisions facing us at this time.

A lifetime of bill paying, two heart attacks and constant worry to keep CFCY afloat had made my father somewhat reluctant to go through the whole process again with television. Yet the dream of television was as strong in him as his early dream of radio. He believed one way to bring television to Prince Edward Island—without the wear and tear he had suffered during his youth—was to go public, the people of the Island buying the shares. This idea was the subject of many speeches he had made throughout the Island shortly before his death.

Earlier, when Dad had been laid up with his heart attacks, Bob Large directed the day to day operations of the station. When he was just four— teen years old, Bob had had his own one-watt radio station, playing lively band concerts for family and neighbours. These were heard throughout a two or three—block radius of his father’s home in Charlottetown. I remember that down through the years—years during which he played such an active, indispensable role in the life of CFCY—Bob always avoided the limelight. He was the one who, in a characteristic low—key and efficient manner, brought about the reality of CFCY Television.

Bob and my father had talked of television constantly—indeed, Dad had sent Bob on several research visits to television stations in upstate New York and in Bangor, Maine, these stations being comparable in

size to a future Island station. So, at the time of Dad’s death, Bob had already accumulated five

years of feasibility study. He now, without fuss, contacted his many asso- ciates in broadcasting, inquiring about the type of equipment needed and costs. A familiar phrase was thrown back at him: all his contacts advised “don’t do it. Nothing good will come from it.” But the decision had already been made.

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