CBC Radio presents all our best archive material!
Updated: Weekly
Use the links below to download a file.
The Death of the Penny
Rewind takes a look at the dear-departing penny.Goodbye to the sweaty, metallic smell of the smallest of coins. Goodbye to a pocket full of change messing up the lines of our fancy pants. Goodbye to a coin with which you could buy nothing.
Download The Death of the Penny
[mp3 file: runs 00:48:57]
The Food Show
Stories from 1978 on CBC Radio’s program The Food Show. It took listeners inside the food industry from chickens to apples to ketchup.
Download The Food Show
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Valentine's Day
It's Valentine's Day, and we really had no choice, did we? We had to give you a program about love. We'll have children, old people, lovers, music and poetry this hour, all appropriate to the day.
Download Valentine's Day
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Mickey Rooney and Tibetan monks- two awkward interviews
Two fascinating, slightly weird and often combative interviews from Michael Enright. The first one is with the veteran actor Mickey Rooney. He calls it one of the most challenging of his career. The other is with two Tibetan monks who barely spoke any English.
Download Mickey Rooney and Tibetan monks- two awkward interviews
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Bill McNeil
A portrait of the longtime CBC broadcaster Bill McNeil. His work on the programs Assignment and Voice of the Pioneer made him a household name for more than 40 years.
Download Bill McNeil
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Quiz Shows
Beginning in the 1940’s, quiz shows have been a regular part of programming on CBC Radio. In Rewind, a four-decade tour that will have you shouting out the answers at the radio.
Download Quiz Shows
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
The President Comes to Canada
Barack Obama's official inauguration as President is on January 20. To mark it, Rewind presents an hour of U.S. presidents who have visited Canada.
Download The President Comes to Canada
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
Ice Storm
A look back 15 years at the great ice storm of Eastern Canada. Power lines came down, electricity sputtered for millions and a thick coating of ice covered everything.
Download Ice Storm
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:58]
Self Help
A New Year- must be time for New Year's Resolutions! On today's Rewind, we help you help yourself. We look at our past efforts to make ourselves happier, healthier and more successful.
Download Self Help
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
The Happy Gang
The Happy Gang- one of the most popular of the arts and entertainment programs of the 1940s and 50s on CBC Radio.
Download The Happy Gang
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
King's Christmas and Fireside Al
A Christmas lecture about non-violence from Martin Luther King Jr. It first aired in 1967, just months before King was assassinated.
Also, some Christmas stories from Fireside Al.
Download King's Christmas and Fireside Al
[mp3 file: runs 00:47:58]
Margaret Visser
An hour of the social anthropologist Margaret Visser. She tells fascinating stories about the every day- everything from tea to hair, dining to bathing. Rewind presents some of her most fascinating pieces.
Download Margaret Visser
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot has been called Canada’s Folk Laureate, and his melodic and soulful voice is unmistakable. He’s a modern-day troubadour with his evocative portraits of Canadian life and landscape. Rewind presents an hour of the words and music of Gordon Lightfoot
Download Gordon Lightfoot
[mp3 file: runs 00:40:03]
World AIDS Day
Rewind marks World AIDS day on December 1st. Rewind looks back at the early days of AIDS and its effect on gay men, on sexuality and on society in general.
Download World AIDS Day
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Grey Cup Part Two
The second hour in a look at one hundred years of the great November showdown, The Grey Cup. All about the Mud Bowl, the Fog Bowl, the Wind Bowl and the great rivalries between the East and the West.
Download Grey Cup Part Two
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Grey Cup Part One
It’s the hundredth anniversary of the Grey Cup, Canada’s annual battle for football supremacy. Rewind celebrates with two programs looking at some of the best stories, sounds and people.
Download Grey Cup Part One
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
Asbestos
An hour about asbestos, the substance that was once one of Canada’s major resources until it was found to be dangerous to the people who pulled it out of the earth and processed it.
Download Asbestos
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Wolfe and Keillor
Tom Wolfe and Garrison Keillor- two authors and their relationships with New York City -- one who loves the city, the other who can’t wait to get out.
Download Wolfe and Keillor
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
Canadian Comic Strips and Books
An hour about Canadian comic strips and books. Over the years Canada has been home to an eclectic roster of cartooning talent from Johnny Canuck to Nelvana, Walter Frise to Lynn Johnston. In this hour of Rewind, a look at comics from Birdseye Centre to Superman, Nelvana to For Better or For Worse.
Download Canadian Comic Strips and Books
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
1972 American Election
A look back at the 1972 Presidential Election. Senator George McGovern battled incumbent Richard Nixon for the Presidential Office. It was the election that is now famous for the Watergate affair. Rewind will bring you sounds, ideas and interviews of that historic event.
Download 1972 American Election
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Stuart MacLean: The Morningside Years
Stuart MacLean on Morningside- the early days of one of Canada's great story-tellers.
In 1984, a young journalist named Stuart McLean was hired on as a columnist for CBC Radio's weekly morning program Morningside with Peter Gzowski. His job was to bring extraordinary stories of everyday Canadian life. It was tailor-made for his unconventional reporting style. It was also a goal he'd been pursuing for over a decade. Rewind presents three of his finest.
Download Stuart MacLean: The Morningside Years
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
The Rise of Advertising
The Mad Men era of advertising comes to Rewind, with stories, interviews and questions like Is advertising an asset or a liability?”
Download The Rise of Advertising
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Canada Calling
Canada Calling- a program that first aired in 1945. In this, the inaugural broadcast, soldiers overseas for the Second World War heard a variety program that gave them a taste of home.
Download Canada Calling
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Frank Zappa
An hour from 1985 with Frank Zappa, the legendary musician whose eccentric genius turned the music world on its ear. He was a champion of free speech, and when he saw it being threatened in the mid 80s by a move that would slap warning labels on albums, he spoke out at hearings, through his music and directly to people- in this case CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup.
Download Frank Zappa
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:08]
The Franklin Expedition
The story of the doomed Franklin expedition is one that has fascinated Canadians for more than 160 years. In 1845, English explorer John Franklin and his crew embarked on a search for the Northwest Passage. They disappeared, and were never heard from again. Although some remains were found of the men, Franklin's two ships- HMS Erebus and HMS Terror have eluded researchers to this day.Today,a documentary that first aired in 1974 on the program Between Ourselves. It’s called The Last Voyage: The Fate of Franklin, and it documents the voyage of the doomed expedition.
Download The Franklin Expedition
[mp3 file: runs 00:52:16]
The Birth of Television
It's the birth of CBC TV. At the start of a new season for Rewind, a look at the early days of radio's little brother. It was sixty years ago this month that the first Canadian television signals were beamed to eager audiences. CBC Television had hit the air.
Download The Birth of Television
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- War
Seventy-five years of war coverage. Since CBC first went to air, we have covered wars and conflicts around the world. Rewind has the last in the series of programs that looks at 75 years of CBC Radio. Michael Enright's co-host is Peter Armstrong, host of CBC Radio's World Report, and together they look at how CBC has covered war from the Second World War through the Cold War, draft dodgers, the Cruise Missile and United Nations peacekeepers.
Download 75th- War
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- Politics
Politics has been a mainstay of CBC Radio over its 75 years. On this show Michael Enright is joined by Anna Maria Tremonti, host of The Current. Listen to stories from the conscription crisis of the Second World War, through the baby bonus, medicare and the flag debate, and to the Constitution talks and Meech Lake.
Download 75th- Politics
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- aboriginal- podcast
To celebrate CBC's 75th birthday, a look at how aborginal issues have been covered on CBC Radio. Michael Enright's co-host is Darrell Dennis. Darrell is a native actor and writer and CBC Radio host. The coverage of aboriginal issues on CBC Radio in many ways mirrors the attitudes and beliefs of Canadian society. On the one hand there was fascination with what was seen as an exotic way of life; on the other an assumption of dysfunction. And underlying it all was a belief that given enough time, aboriginal people would be absorbed and integrated into the larger society.
Download 75th- aboriginal- podcast
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:18]
75th- Literary
A Canadian voice for literature. On the seventh in the Rewind series celebrating the 75th birthday of the CBC, Michael Enright is joined by Eleanor Wachtel from Writers and Company. For 75 years, CBC Radio has played a major role as coach, critic and above all, appreciative consumer and sponsor of writing in Canada. Rewind brings you samples.
Download 75th- Literary
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- Regions
n the sixth of the Rewind shows that celebrate the 75th birthday of the CBC, it's a look at regional programming. We might live in this great dominion called Canada, but we also live in our neighbourhoods and towns, cities and provinces. The stories that affect our lives in those places are at least as important as the bigger national stories- sometimes more so.
Download 75th- Regions
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- Sports
More about the 75th anniversary of the CBC. It’s all about sports as Michael Enright and his co host Robin Brown look at 75 years of sports coverage on CBC.
Download 75th- Sports
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
CBC 75th birthday- Music
A look at music programming from the past 75 years. The CBC's role in Canada's culture is almost immeasurable. It has commissioned music, uncovered and nurtured talent, had live on air performances, interviewed musicians and composers and of course played all sorts of recorded music over the years.
Download CBC 75th birthday- Music
[mp3 file: runs 00:41:46]
75th- CBC Personalities
Michael Enright is joined by CBC Radio host Shelagh Rogers to look at some of the personalities who have graced the air on CBC Radio. It's the third on the series celebrating 75 years of CBC Radio.
Download 75th- CBC Personalities
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
75th- Multiculturalism
Rewind celebrates the 75th birthday of CBC with a look at immigration and multiculturalism. CBC host Garvia Bailey, of Big City, Small World, joins Michael Enright as they talk about the Underground Railroad, a Chinese hockey team from the late 1940s, Africville, the Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism, Vietnamese boat people and more.
Download 75th- Multiculturalism
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
75th- Celebrations
The first of ten special programs that celebrate the 75th birthday of the CBC, which was last fall. Michael Enright is joined by Carol Off, host of As it Happens, as they look at- what else? Celebrations.
Download 75th- Celebrations
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
The Beat Generation
On the Rewind podcast, a look at the beat generation from 1959. Inspired by Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs, the Beats changed the tone of music, poetry and set the stage for the counterculture movement of the 60s.
Download The Beat Generation
[mp3 file: runs 00:48:21]
Fitness
On Rewind, it's all about fitness. Remember the Royal Canadian Air Force’s 5BX plan? Perhaps that perennially fit 60 year old Swede? How about Participaction or Jane’s Fonda’s “feel the burn?” You'll get moving with Rewind.
Download Fitness
[mp3 file: runs 00:51:34]
Lost Arts Part Two
Today on Rewind, more lost arts. Last time we dipped into some items from the program Morningside with Peter Gzowski. In 1991 they decided to revive some activities once considered to be part of everyday life but now seen as archaic. They included tying a bowtie, splitting wood and darning a sock. Well, today we have more- ironing a shirt, taking a Sunday drive, and milking a cow.
Download Lost Arts Part Two
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Lost Arts Part One- podcast
On Rewind today segments from a series that first aired in 1991 on Morningside, about lost arts. Skills like writing a letter, darning a sock, taking a Sunday drive and learning how to waltz. Peter Gzowski and the crew at Morningside decided that Canadians needed a refresher on these skills that may have been lost, but could possibly be revived. So they embarked on a quest to not only teach listeners how to do these things, but tell them why they should.
Download Lost Arts Part One- podcast
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:44]
Neil Young podcast
Today, we celebrate one of Canada’s greatest singer/songwriters. He’s a man who’s received multiple Juno and Grammy awards as well as the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award. He’s an officer of the Order of Canada; he’s been nominated for an academy award, and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll hall of fame – twice.
He’s released more than 30 albums, he’s been touring for over 40 years and reminds us that it’s better to burn out than to fade away because rust never sleeps.He’s Neil Young.
Download Neil Young podcast
[mp3 file: runs 00:37:55]
The Queen Comes to Canada
Coming up on Rewind- the Queen comes to Canada. From her first visits as princess with her new husband, to her official visits opening Parliament and the St Lawrence Seaway and repatriating the constitution, she has worked hard to be a part of Canadians’ lives.
Download The Queen Comes to Canada
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Expodition- podcast
Today it's a trip back to 1967 when Canada was celebrating our Centennial at Expo 67, the world's fair in Montreal. Every day the fair was on, CBC Radio aired a special program called Expodition.
Download Expodition- podcast
[mp3 file: runs 00:52:34]
Canadian Snapshots
On today’s Rewind, two segments from the series Canadian Snapshots, program that promised to (quote) "turn the lens of the radio camera to the wonders and oddities of Canada and bring the vast panorama of the country to the airwaves.”
Canadian Snapshots aired weekly on the national network in 1939 and 1940 and was full of skits, music and actuality.
Both episodes today are from February 1940 and feature the voices of Lorne Greene and J. Frank Willis.
Download Canadian Snapshots
[mp3 file: runs 00:38:07]
CanCon
More than 40 years after the CRTC introduced Canadian content rules, Rewind looks back at the arguments for and against them.
Download CanCon
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
The Bricklin
On today’s show, all about a man, his car and twenty-three million dollars. It’s the story of Malcolm Bricklin and the sports car he dreamed up.
Download The Bricklin
[mp3 file: runs 00:52:14]
This Country in the Morning with Michael Enright
On Rewind, two interviews from Michael Enright's first job as host for CBC Radio- the program This Country in the Morning. First, the comedians Peter Cook and Dudley Moore, and then the president of McDonalds's Canada- George Cohon.
Download This Country in the Morning with Michael Enright
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Stuart McLean on Morningside
Stuart McLean, best known these days as the host of The Vinyl Cafe, started out telling stories on the program Morningside. He celebrated the stories of everyday life from all corners of Canada. Today on Rewind, three of those stories.
Download Stuart McLean on Morningside
[mp3 file: runs 00:55:00]
Midnight Cab
Two episodes of a radio drama that ran in the early 1990s called Midnight Cab. It was written by James W. Nichol and part of The Mystery Project- a weekly series of detective plays. Midnight Cab follows the adventures of a nineteen-year-old would-be writer from Northern Ontario called Walker Devereaux, who moves to Toronto to become famous. In the meantime, he finds a job driving a cab at night while he finishes his first novel during the day.
Download Midnight Cab
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Juno Award Winners
In 1970, Pierre Juneau said that "Canadian broadcasting should be Canadian." At the time, he was the head of the CRTC- the Canadian Radio/Television Commission, and he was behind the implementation of new rules for Canadian content on radio and television. This helped spark a made- in- Canada music industry. Today, in honour of Pierre Juneau- who died in February- and the upcoming Juno awards which were named for him, we salute just a few of the many Canadian musicians who have made us proud.
Download Juno Award Winners
[mp3 file: runs 00:36:16]
Astronauts
An hour of Canadian astronauts. Chris Hadfield, Roberta Bondar, Marc Garneau and Steve MacLean talk about what it’s like to be in space- or in MacLean’s case- fulfill a childhood dream.
Download Astronauts
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
International Women's Day
Today on Rewind we celebrate International Women’s Day- March 8. We’ll give you a taste of the role of women in Canadian society as it was, and then later in the hour hear about the groundbreaking Royal Commission on the Status of Women from the late 1960s.
Download International Women's Day
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Morley Callaghan
Today on Rewind an hour of Morley Callaghan. Callaghan was a Canadian literary giant, known for his novels, short stories and plays and his many appearances on radio and television. Today we have several excerpts, including a couple from Michael Enright's time at the program This Country in the Morning in the mid 70s.
Download Morley Callaghan
[mp3 file: runs 00:54:59]
Thursdays at 2 p.m.
Weekdays at 2:00 p.m. & 1:00 a.m. ET, Saturdays at 1:00 a.m. ET and Sundays at 8:00 p.m. ET
