Remembering Stuart McLean and the Vinyl Cafe
Growing up, there was always something on; from dawn to dusk sounds would be emanating from the setup in the living room or the radio in the car.
Most of the memories from my childhood are jogged by audio rather than visual cues. When I hear a particular song, for example, I’m immediately transported to the time in the past associated with it, and when I look at an old photo, I can tell you with pretty good accuracy what I was listening to in that moment.
Family road trips were a blast, whether we were driving 9 hours up to Quesnel, or just one hour from Maple Ridge to North Van, it was always something to look forward to. My parents both love music, but the car was my dad’s domain. He always knew exactly what he wanted to listen to, and had his radio stations and personally curated selection of cassette tapes ready for the journey. We could be driving from our house to the grocery store and there would still be a 5-minute playlist lined up.
When the radio was on, there was a 90 percent chance the dial would be set to Rock 101, but every so often we’d swap over to CBC Radio.
There was one program that always warranted a switch to CBC. My dad seemed to know instinctively when it was on, because we’d always catch it. As soon as the presenter’s voice hit the airwaves, the entire car would fall silent as we listened to his delightful and quirky stories about the daily life of this family from Toronto. There were four main characters, a man named Dave and his wife Morley, as well as their two children, Sam and Stephanie. They were joined by a host of other characters from around the neighborhood, too many to list here. There seemed to be episodes about every situation you could imagine, including specials for each major holiday, and I remember thinking to myself, jeez this family sure gets around! If you haven’t figured it out yet, I’m talking about the Vinyl Cafe, hosted by Canadian legend Stuart McLean.
With each episode, I became more and more acquainted with Dave and his family, and the faraway city of Toronto, and at one point I even planned a trip out that way to try and meet them. Those hopes were dashed, however, when I learned that while Toronto was real, the family and their whimsical life were entirely fictional.
Rather than being disheartened by that fact, I instead became impressed by Stuart’s ability to transport me, and millions of other listeners, into his made-up world and make us feel like close friends of the fictional family, all via the magic of radio. Nobody has ever seen a picture of Dave, Morley, Sam, Stephanie, or any of the other characters; they all exist solely in the minds of those who hear the stories, and I’m sure no two listeners would paint the same picture. Stuart was able to capture the Canadian spirit and instil it in a selection of characters that were representative of those who live in this great nation, allowing everyone from coast to coast to coast to join in and hear themselves in his storytelling.
The family ritual of listening to music together in the car went on for years, but as I got older I began developing my own tastes, and before long the sounds of the radio only made it into the ears of those sitting in the front seats, blocked from entering mine by a new set of headphones. Eventually, family drives themselves became less and less frequent.
As I started doing my own thing, something strange happened. I’d be on the bus or skytrain, traversing the same areas we’d use to drive all together, and I’d feel an urge to listen to a particular song that reminded me of those times. Not long after, I stumbled upon the Vinyl Cafe podcast. The first time I heard Stuart’s voice through my headphones after a years-long hiatus from Dave and his family, I smiled.
In March 2014, I went to visit my aunt in Toronto, then took the Greyhound bus across the country back to Vancouver. Now a 4,000km journey requires some serious planning, and while meals and clothes were important, my number one priority was curating a playlist.
Sitting in my aunt’s Toronto apartment, I downloaded some music, a few podcasts, and essentially the entire Vinyl Cafe catalog, save for the seasonal episodes, which I only listen to at their respective times, but we’ll get into that later.
Via Stuart’s storytelling, Dave and his family accompanied me as the bus traversed the nation, through Ontario, Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta, and last but not least, British Columbia. Just before we pulled out of Thunder Bay, the driver alerted us that the heating had stopped working, and gave us two options; get on the bus and brave the sub-zero temperatures, or stay in the warm terminal and wait for the next one in the morning. While many opted for the latter, I got back on the bus, zipped up my jacket, and fought through it. As we left Thunder Bay with the bus now half full, I put my legs up on the now vacant seat beside me, and turned on an episode of the Vinyl Cafe about the time Dave got caught in a snowstorm.
Later that year, just before Christmas, Stuart McLean actually came to Vancouver to perform at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre. I asked my parents and sister if they wanted to join me, but nobody took me up on my offer, and I ended up going alone. Sitting in the auditorium surrounded by families with children of all ages, I remember wondering if Stuart and his stories had had as great an impact on them growing up as they’d had on me. After the show, I went up to the stage and flagged down one of the guys moving things around. I handed him a letter I’d written to the Vinyl Cafe team including essentially everything I’ve said so far here. He said he’d deliver it to Stuart, but I have no idea if it ever got there.
On February 15, 2017, Stuart McLean passed away following a battle with cancer. I can still remember exactly where I was when I heard the news, riding the skytrain from Lougheed Station to my girlfriend Niloo’s house in Vancouver. It hit me pretty hard; as you’ve probably gathered by now the Vinyl Cafe was far more than just a radio show to me.
When I got to Niloo’s house, I told her everything, and when she told me she’d never heard the Vinyl Cafe before, we listened to an episode right then and there. I think she liked it.
As I mentioned, there are episodes that correspond to certain holidays. By far and away the best is the Christmas episode called “Dave Cooks the Turkey.” Listening to it has become a tradition every year when Niloo and I go back to my parents’ house in Maple Ridge for the holidays. On Christmas morning we go downstairs and listen to it while making pancakes, with my parents and sister joining us as the episode progresses and they make their way down from their bedrooms. By the end, we’re all gathered in the kitchen, the smell of pancakes wafting up from the stove, and smiles on our faces. The rest of the day’s entertainment is carefully curated by my dad, but the early morning slot is always mine.
During my time at UBC, I took a course on podcasts, and the professor happened to have previously worked at the CBC. One day, she asked us to name people in the media who’d inspired us, and I immediately raised my hand and said, “Stuart McLean.”
While the rest of the class appeared to have no idea who he was, the professor smiled. “I remember Stuart,” she said. “Notoriously difficult to work with, but man could that guy tell a story.” She explained that he always knew exactly how he wanted something to sound, and while people often offered suggestions, he preferred to do things his way.
I had always wondered what it was like behind the scenes, but hearing that really piqued my curiosity, since I’ve been described as “difficult to work with” for the exact same reasons.
Fast forward to January 2023. After years of telling stories about working with Stuart on the Vinyl Cafe Facebook page, producer Jess Milton announced the creation of a new podcast, “Backstage at the Vinyl Cafe.”
Whoever said not to get to know your heroes obviously had the wrong heroes. Listening to Jess recount what it was like working with Stuart, I’ve only come to appreciate his life and the Vinyl Cafe more. The Dave and Morley stories will live on forever in the hearts and minds of Stuart’s listeners, and when I have kids, you better believe they’ll be playing them while we’re out for family drives.
