On December 24th, 1979, "As It Happens" listeners heard Alan Maitland's reading of Frederick Forsyth's "The Shepherd" for the first time -- and tonight, some will hear it for the thirty-first.

And while that's undoubtedly music to your ears, guess what? Our 2009 look back at the year in music will probably also be music to your ears.

We'll hear from the people who left us this year -- like Michael Jackson and Liam Clancy -- and we won't hear from the people who didn't leave us this year -- like Nickelback -- in our annual look back.

As It Happens, the Christmas Eve edition. Radio with impeccable hindsight -- and Forsyth.

Holidays are all about traditions. And here at As It Happens, this is one of our favourites.

Every Christmas Eve, it is our pleasure to bring you Alan Maitland's reading of The Shepherd, by Frederick Forsyth.

The short story was written as a Christmas tale, and a suspenseful one. It tells the story of an RAF pilot who is flying home for Christmas from Germany in 1957. Fog sets in, and all radio communication is lost.

Here now is Alan Maitland with The Shepherd.

It's hard to believe we've arrived at the end of another year -- let alone another decade. But time keeps up its steady allegro, and at As it Happens we do our best to follow along and keep you tuned in. On that note, we're going to rewind to the beginning of the year and revisit some of the musical moments of 2009 that we covered on the show -- from the piano to the fortissimo.

Many of us automatically link that tune -- "Linus and Lucy", by the Vince Guaraldi Trio -- to "A Charlie Brown Christmas". And more particularly with the character of Schroeder, who pounds it out on his toy piano, keeping the beat with characteristic thrusts of his enormous head. Of course, Schroeder's real passion is for Beethoven, and as we discovered back in January, that realness is reflected by the authenticity of the notes in the cartoon bubbles above his head.

Dr. William Meredith, director of the Beethoven Center in San Jose, California, explained that Charles Schulz decidedly rejected to "cartoonify" the great composer's music.

Schulz's apparent reverence for Beethoven is all the more extraordinary when one considers that he was not always a fan of classical music. It's rare that indifference to, or disdain for, a specific genre or artist leads to such devotion. It usually leads to devotion of another kind -- that is, a dedicated effort to avoid the music in question at all costs. We all have our musical pariahs. And for fans of X-92-9 FM in Calgary, that pariah is surely the immensely successful Canadian rock band, Nickelback. Program director Christian Hall explained to As it Happens in February why the station maintains a "No Nickelback" policy.

If Nickelback somehow releases the twenty-first century equivalent of "Abbey road", the people at X-92-9 may come to regret their boycott. But I'm guessing they'll probably never have to say they're sorry.

But, also in February, we heard of the attempted muzzling of a musician of a more serious nature -- one that elicited an apology almost fifty years after it happened.

In 1960, folk legend Pete Seeger was invited to perform at a high school in California. But after he accepted, some unsavoury conditions followed. Katherine Nakamura of the San Diego Unified School District gave As it Happens the background.

As Ms Nakamura said in that interview about Pete Seeger, "Time marches on, and we are all mortal." And while we can feel fortunate that Mr. Seeger is still very much with us -- he turned ninety in May -- as every year does, 2009 claimed many notable performers. In September, we bid farewell to another folk legend, Mary Travers, whose commanding, sensuous voice fulfilled the 'Sixties powerhouse trio of Peter, Paul, and Mary.

And just this month one of Ms. Travers's folk contemporaries, Liam Clancy -- who Bob Dylan once described as "the best ballad singer I ever heard in my life" -- died at the age of seventy-four. He was the youngest and last surviving member of The Clancy Brothers. As it Happens guest host Helen Mann spoke with Mr. Clancy in 2007, on the death of his good friend and colleague, Tommy Makem.

While the loss of Liam Clancy this year marked the end of an era in Irish folk music, two Irish bands distinguished themselves on the world stage this summer. They weren't playing traditional Irish music however, but rather Scottish traditional music. And due in part to their winning performances, 2009 was the first year ever that no Scottish band occupied one of the top three spots at the World Pipe Band Championships in Glasgow.

Field Marshall Montgomery of Lisburn, Northern Ireland, and The St. Laurence O'Toole Pipe Band of Dublin took second and third place respectively in the Grade One competition. But it was a group of Canadians who were crowned world champions. The Simon Fraser University Pipe Band won their sixth championship title. It was their second consecutive win since first taking the prize in 1995.

As it Happens guest host Tom Harrington congratulated Pipe Major Terry Lee on the band's victory in August.

As any aspiring musician will tell you, the road to success is never straight, or smooth. You've got to be willing to suffer a few bumps along the way, and just when it looks like you're finally getting somewhere, you often find you're just spinning your wheels. And if you're really unlucky, your wheels are just plain nowhere to be found. None of what I just said was metaphorical. It happened back in May to Montreal rockers "The Dears". As it Happens guest host Robert Harris checked in with lead singer Murray Lightburn for the details.

Indeed, the world is not always kind to artists -- but sometimes artists aren't so kind to themselves. Take Jason Beck, for instance. The Canadian musician better known as Gonzales put himself through quite an ordeal last spring, all in an effort to break the world record for the longest solo concert ever. He did it, and it only took him twenty-seven hours, three minutes, and forty-four seconds. And a lifetime of storing songs in his brain.

In case you were wondering, "Gonzales" apparently owes his stage to a stranger in the street in Berlin, who hailed him as "Chilly Gonzales", which the performer subsequently adopted.

You may remember hearing mention earlier this year of another world-renowned musician with a distinctively-Spanish sounding name. Orlando "Cachaito" Lopez was one of the founders of "The Buena Vista Social Club". The group was formed in the early 'Nineties by musician and producer Ry Cooder, and it soon became an international sensation. As the band's bassist, it was said Lopez provided their music's heartbeat. Orlando Lopez died on February 9th. He was seventy-six.

Here is the title track from the band's eponymous album. The tune was composed by Orlando's father, Orestes Lopez.

Canada tragically lost its own master of jazz, and classical music, in 2009. Fred Mills, who played trumpet with the Canadian Brass for twenty-four years, died in a car accident on September 7th.

As it Happens spoke with fellow trumpeter Ronald Romm shortly after, about his colleague.

It is sadly impossible in this short time to give the many musicians who took their final bows in 2009. But it would be inconceivable to leave the year -- and the decade -- without reflecting on the musical legacy of Michael Jackson. Of course, since his death at age fifty last summer, a great deal has been said -- and written -- about the man often hailed as "the greatest entertainer of all time". Much of the coverage however, has focussed on his personal life, and concerned speculation surrounding the questionable circumstances of his death.

But on June 26th, the day after he died, As it Happens spoke to Deke Richards, a man who helped launch the superstar's career by writing several hits for The Jackson Five. Mr. Richards shared his early memories of the boy who would become the King of Pop.

And that's it for us this Christmas Eve. And from the King of Pop, we're going to leave you with a number from "The Queen of Blues", KoKo Taylor -- another legend who left us back in June. Here she is with "Have You Heard the News?"

Have a Merry Christmas everyone.

And to all a goodnight. As it Happens will be back on Monday. I'm Carol Off.

I'm CDJ. Good night.