Calgary as you've never heard it
CBC News | Posted: December 26, 2015 1:00 PM | Last Updated: April 16, 2017
From our archives: the grandfather of Calgary historians weighs in on our city’s incredible past
This story was originally published Dec. 26, 2015
Interested a little historical gold?
Well, we've hit the motherlode.
While digging around in our archives, we here at Calgary at a Crossroads ran across a treasure trove of audio recordings: Jack Peach's Calgary.
The grandfather of Calgary historians made several dozen recordings that ran on CBC's Calgary Eyeopener in the 1970s.
Peach, who was born in Calgary in 1913 and died here in 1993, wrote many historical books on the city and its institutions, as well as a column in the Calgary Herald.
What makes these broadcasts so special are Peach's voice and the wealth of personal anecdote, which brings our city's history to life.
To understand who we are as Calgarians today, we need to understand who we were, and how our city developed its unique character. Peach's recordings do just that.
Peach had a way about him — a kind of presentation or way of speaking that has itself become history.
It's the kind of Calgary voice you imagine coming out of an old wooden radio powered by vacuum tubes. When the rumble of street cars was part of our city's symphony.
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Calgary at a Crossroads is CBC Calgary's special focus on life in our city during the downturn, a look at Calgary's culture, identity and what it means to be Calgarian. Read more stories from the series at Calgary at a Crossroads.