The April Fool's news report coincided
with Canada's nation-wide changeover from Imperial to the Metric system on
April 1st, 1975. That was the first day weather reports gave temperatures in
degrees Celsius rather than Fahrenheit, road signs changed from miles to
kilometres, gas went from gallons to litres and weights shifted from pounds to
kilos. Many did not take kindly to the change and confusion reigned....
The timing was absolutely perfect and
the 'Metric Time' changeover gag announcement (called ‘Larmencaller time’ by
Stambuck and Carr) was added on as a 'breaking news, this just in' addendum to
the official morning news report. The pair then proceeded to carry on the gag
by discussing how to ‘convert’ clocks and making regular time announcements in
both ‘standard’ and ‘Larmencaller’ throughout their morning broadcast.
The prank however went far, FAR beyond
Stambuck and Carr's wildest imagination and quickly spread like wildfire.
As recounted by StarPhoenix columnist
Paul Jackson - "The odd couple were so convincing, folks started turning
in their watches and alarm clocks at jewellers around town to have them
replaced." It was reported that Saskatoon City Hall got inundated with
calls regarding people refusing to pay a tax increase to 'change the clock
tower to Metric' as well as people phoning into bewildered Canada Revenue
offices asking how 'Metric Time' would affect hourly wages.
The gag quickly spread to Ottawa as
confused and irate people all over the broadcast area began calling elected
officials and Members of Parliament to complain. As further recounted by Paul
Jackson - "A Member of Parliament, hearing the show and receiving angry
phone calls, fearing Pierre Elliott Trudeau really had gone too far this time,
raised the issue in the House of Commons.”
The 'Wal ‘n Den 'Larmencaller Time'
stunt was so completely well played and perfectly timed that it made the news
across Canada as well as internationally and is regarded as among the most
masterful April Fools jokes of all time.
Photo taken by CFQC photographer Jason
Schoonover, Text by Thom Cholowski
What a hoot.
ReplyDeleteWall and Den were the most polular radio hosts in Saskatchewn for years
DeleteI remember that! Goddamn Trudeau.
ReplyDeleteHe brought Canada in line with the rest of the world to improve our ability to trade. I am more or less fluent in both.
DeleteYou resided in Northern SK where there never was enough winter daylight to measure in hours and without Celsius you could hardly tell good stories about how far you were below zero. Being a southerner whose every information came from south of the 49th(remember the bushel) I have just recently become somewhat conversant in metric(not many tonnes of wheat grown on the Island).50 years is relatively rapid learning for a Swede.
DeleteFollowing up on "books" have you read 'A Geography of Blood" by Candace Savage-a picture of my home community I was thrilled to learn but also guilt that is difficult to process.
I had visited the Chief Joseph Battlefield just south of the49th where the US Cavalry caught the Nez Perce tribe after pursuing them across Washington, Idaho and most of Montana to within 40 miles of the Canadian border where they were trapped by an early blizzard with only rosebush and sage for protection. Trapped, Chief Joseph lost his dream of freedom only one day from freedom----or so the mythology of my childhood ran.
In the research of Ms Savage it was clear that if they had made the border so close to Fort Walsh, the probably have died of starvation that first winter on the Death Camp by Cypress Lake on what would later be the Michael Oxarat ranch , a mere 5 miles from. where I lived , but effectively erased from history till the works of Ms Savage.
Rural Saskatchewan at least must be conversive in both Metric and Imperial. Highway distance is measured in Kilometres but rural roads are fixed in miles. Grain may be harvested and sold in tonnes but it is stored in bushels which are volumne constant. Plywood thickness may be in metric but it is still sold in 4x8 sheets. Then you have 2x4s, 2x6s etc.
DeleteI understand working in wood. Where we lived in central Ukraine I was unable to find the kind of wood I was used to in Canada as everything was geared to masonry - bricks, cinder blocks etc. Our walls were 18" thick. Someone set up a small sawmill a couple blocks from our place and I was able to buy roiugh cut lumber from them. A 2x4 measured 50x100 mm. A 1x6 measured 25x150 mm but some were cut so poorly they narrowed in places. I tried to build a dog house that was 1 meter by 1 meter by 1 meter high at the front. It was a sight for sore eyes and because the wood was green took two men and a dog to move it.