The National CBC 1978

[MLKahnt1]

The radio version of The Royal Canadian Air Farce did a sketch that intermingled with the rest of an entire show where this theme would not stop playing. If it did, it would restart before the announcer could say "The National, with ..."

Always was and will be a very distinct sound, like the 60 Minutes stopwatch or the TARDIS.

[MLKahnt1]

Anyone that also watches BBC News will realise that this is, in its own way, the forerunner of the BBC's "drums and beeps" themes counting down to the top of the hour and leading their newscasts for years now.

It also brings things back to the day when this was THE Authoritative newscast of the day, with unique resources and access that nobody else could offer, such that it didn't need the full name anymore of "CBC National News" and just was "The National" with "who's doing it tonight?"

[popesnose]

Allan McFee, was an old style CBC announcer who was famous for pricking the balloons of the self important and pompous. He carried a special pen to scribble `Poop’ across memos from CBC managers. He once set fire to a memo on a bulletin board, and for almost a year gave the weather forecast for Dribble Lake, Ontario, a place that doesn’t exist.

[popesnose]

That was Allan Mcfee announcing it.  I really loved his late night program: Eclectic Circus circa1965-1985 and then as a weekly program until 1989. In the show, McFee would converse with an imaginary mouse, a "small grey presence" which lived in his pocket, and play an eclectic array of obscure musical selections. Referring to himself as "the old musicologist," he would address his audience as "all those out there in vacuumland".

[Railrodder]

I remeber this very well! The National has always been my favorite new show even as a kid.

[RipARipeBanana]

fuckin' cool.

[somewhatlongdong]

Inside the CBC, this opening was referred to as "the bloops."

[MattTheSaiyan]

Getting a guy named Knowlton Nash to host a show called "The National" is the best idea since coloured-vinyl-records.

[bagelboi66]

I always thought this was cool. And who could top Knowlton Nash's trademark wry singsong "good night?"

[shmoker2010]

HAL from 2001 introducing Knowlton Nash!

[UberMan5000]

Haha, am I about to watch The National, or Wargames?

[OlegKostoglatov]

Does anyone have the 1970s and 80s version of the opening sequence to "The Fifth Estate"? Anything to do with the Fifth Estate on You Tube is from the late 90s forward, not from the golden era with Eric Malling, Hana Gardner, or even Adrienne Clarkson.

[somewhatlongdong]

@OlegKostoglatov Is that the version with the file folders?

[OlegKostoglatov]

@somewhatlongdong I believe it did have the file folders, and a sort of mechanical jingle.

[somewhatlongdong]

@OlegKostoglatov i know the one you mean, but i haven't ever seen it on here.

[MegaCrowman]

someone shoold mash up this theme with the one fron APP logo that would be scary cool

[Zeeta55]

Hahaa....done by a Commadore computer??

[MelioraCogito]

Heck I remember The National when Lloyd Robertson - who's about to retire from CTV - was the anchor (I was just a kid back then).

[garycalgary]

I remember this and everytime i heard it i thought ew here comes that man with the fugly glasses

only back then we just called it ugly

[Love4SK]

as a 70s kid, i remember bongos were a popular instrument. hear a little of it here.

[mapleavenue77]

Hard to believe this was once 'cutting edge'.

[blutroniq]

This music used to freak me out when I was a kid

[leafyutube]

@blutroniq, me too. And the ending also. I was scared to go to bed when I heard that.

[Mannik3]

I felt young when I finally heard this after 30 years.

[tbilisijeff]

Knowlton... the Silent K!

[JonLeibow]

We have the technology. We can rebuild him.

[lakesidepark2112]

Interesting!

[DaveinNorthYork]

How listening to this opening theme of CBC's "The National" brings back memories of me being a kid during the late 1970s.

If I recall, the end credits were better, because there was like the sound of a dropping hammer when the show ended.

[roquefortfiles]

The Knowltonal, With Knowltonalnash

[tbilisijeff]

:)))))))

[Fmaack]

Getting a guy named Nolton Nash to host the National = genius.

[PhailWynn]

i always thought so too.

[BrianBoru314]

It's nice to hear Allan McFee's voice again. That reminds me, does anyone know where I could get a version of "Chloe"?

[gaIIery]

Great!

I was hoping he was gonna say:

"The National, with George Finstad."

Love to hear his distinctive voice again.

[1L6E6VHF]

Really nice to see that again, truly something I hadn't seen in 30 years. It was a neat intro (to an excellent no-bull**** newscast) CBET is not what it used to be, but still far more news-per-half hour than what passes for news on the other side of the river!

[SONICSATAMJAMER77]

The SFX sounded like Moog Snythinizers doing a Congo line

[doctalee]

@SONICSATAMJAMER77...  Absolutely!

[doctalee]

I am gonna make a kick ass remix with this loop...stay tuned

[petclark1]

I remember when I was a kid, in the summertime, when it was hot and people had their windows open, when we heard this it meant it was time to go home. This would have been at 11 PM and all of us kids would have been playing outside since after dinner. It's sad that kids don't know that kind of innocent freedom now.

Anyway, thanks for posting this-it brought back a flood of happy memories.

[wilkes85]

this is just the coolest opening sequence I ever seen in my whole life!!! We should all write up a petition to get the CBC to use this again!!

And while they're at it, they should bring back the exploding pizza!!! the CBC should have a whole retro theme!

And if anyone's interested, I just made an ident for my channel just like this, titled "AWESOME CHANNEL IDENT!!!".

[SoCoolNoFool]

I agree with you wholeheartedly! Too bad this intro was before my time.

[ElPeruanoUFO]

get a gf

[wilkes85]

No, you get a boyfriend!!

[Trund27]

FANTASTIC!!!!!!

I remember this a little kid!!!!! One of my first memories...Thanks so much for the massive memory boost!!!!

[TrainmasterCurt]

The robot-font! At least the beginning of it

[somewhatlongdong]

Inside the CBC, this intro was known as "The Bloops."

[Davros2006]

After quite a bit of research, the font used in the intro is called "Checkbook".

[wilkes85]

Thanks a lot man!!!

[wilkes85]

Would the CBC sue me if i tried to re-construct this with WMM and MS Paint and used it as an opening channel ident for my videos? I freaking love the effects on this thing!

[Netstryke]

Oh Man!!! That is Classic!!

[juniorsurprise06]

I recall being 8 years old and supposedly asleep when this would come on giving me the creeps. Sure miss quality Anchor's like Knowlton Nash though.

[markojameow]

I liked Knowlton Nash - he was one of only a few CBC journalists who were truly objective. Best of all, he had a look that most viewers could relate to.

[trilingual]

omg! memories . . . thank you!

[didax67]

I believe we are listening the beeping of "Sputnik", which was sampled and played back at low speed. Beeping satellites, Buckminster Fuller segmented world maps, and machine-readable fonts were the dernier-cri in the Seventies Space-Age. Oh, and pant suits, which assured you that the anchorman was wearing something below the waist.

[wilkes85]

Are you suggesting most anchormen don't wear pants? eew! I'll never look at Peter Mansbridge the same again.

[Jinxterman69]

I remember this! It was awesome then; It is still awesome now! Great idea to post it on Youtube!

[wilkes85]

AWESOME! they should bring this back!!! this is the awesome opening I've ever seen!!

I was born in 1985, so I wouldn't have remembered it, but is it ever cool!! That would almost make me watch The National, but of course, I rarely ever watch CBC anymore, because all their programming has gone down the toilet.

[markojameow]

You bet - the CBC's got a left-lib bias everywhere you turn, its programming has none of the edge it did 30 or 40 years ago (remember This Hour Has Seven Days?), and its production values are inferior to that of private broadcasters, Americans, and the Brits. Dreadful, dreadful crap!

[bikenik]

Yeah, and so is your neo-conservative propaganda.

[markojameow]

I'd rather be conservative than a pinko - they're the ones who destroyed our education and legal systems (among other things). Kids today have no discipline because schools got rid of the strap, the Senate outlawed spanking, and they think they could get away with everything because of this.  Our universities teach young people how to protest rather than learn job skills for the future. And our justice and immigration systems are jokes. Don't belittle me - and the loony left are good at that.

[bikenik]

Well by your response you sound like a "pinko", since you talk about the 'failure' of the state to teach and discipline youth.

What happened to family and individual responsibility taking care of those things - that's the neo-con answer to all social problems.

Regarding protesting - what are you talking about? - time to get your head out of the 1960's marko, people are way more consumer oriented & self-absorbed to stand up for any social causes these days.

[markojameow]

Well, I'm not a pinko, and my head's not stuck in the 1960s. It seems like liberals and socialists are quick to label people without knowing the whole story, and I'm sick of it. I was at a very socialist big-city university, and many students I knew attended anti-racism (okay), no-war (debatable) and no-tuition-hikes (well...) rallies. If the turnouts seem low, it's only because students are under extreme pressure to pass, not because they're self-absorbed or apathetic.

[bikenik]

YOU were the one to throw out a 'pinko' label marko not me!

Marko you make so many contradictions I don't know where to start. The things you complain about are the result of right-wing neo-conservative policies born out of the Ronald Reagan years and perpetuated through various administrations across the western world ever since.

What does 'self-absorbed' mean if its not focused on personal goals? If turn outs at events are "low" how are they also "well-attended"?

All Neo-Con double talk.

[markojameow]

Whatever. Go to Ryerson, study journalism there, and go work for the CBC. They're always looking for your kind there. Me? I'll never watch the CBC again for as long as I live - the left just make my blood boil. They think we conservatives are idiots - well, I've met quite a few dumb liberals in my time, including my own relatives. We won't be shut up anymore, okay? If my future kids talk like this to me, then I'm taking them out of school and teaching them myself.

[bikenik]

Markojameow, as much as they like to deny it, just know that the conservative political agenda has been the dominant force in the west since the late 1970's.

What that means is less government regulation and control of business, privatization of public assets, less social spending and less investment in social infrastructure, more corporate welfare including lower corporate taxes, more military sending, more individual responsibility and less protection of the individual.

[bikenik]

If you don't like the CBC because they actually report on these issues well that's too bad for you because the CBC - as our PUBLIC broadcaster - has a responsibility to inform Canadians of these trends, unlike private corporate broadcasters who see their duty to entertain viewers (usually with American content) and maximize profits for shareholders.

If you don't like the way things are today you certainly can't blame the social left as they have had a diminishing influence for decades.

[jaworskij]

Kids get away with anything these days, not because of the lack of a strap, but because of the lack of a father. Blame the Divorce Act, which was created by lefty Communists.

[johrons]

i brobably saw it but never will remember it cause i was born in 78 lol

[loneprimate]

I still think that's the coolest news show opening ever. :)

[musicmovement]

do dee dee doo doo, do dee dee doo doo - LOVE IT!

[jaworskij]

Would love to see the intro/extro for The Saturday Evening News, which was the Saturday 6 p.m. national newscast before it was renamed to Saturday Report in 1982.

[Streaker79]

I think that's the one with the Joni Mitchell tune - would love to see it!

[RideMyBMW]

Love it! Wonder if anyone out there´s got some clips from Knowlton Nash´s "The National".

[BootPatrol]

Basically, this looks like what could have been on a computer screen of that era. And Knowlton Nash. Classic!

[brithgob]

Within the CBC, this intro was called "The Bloops."

[Cora1]

Was'nt this taken from the "Six Million Dollar Man" theme ???? lol

[mubd]

Catchy!!!!

[fishhead06]

I was a kid then and I thought this was so cool and high-tech.

[tooniverse]

LOL, gotta love the creepy-ass 1970s.

[shyguy76]

This is so cool. I was too young to remember this but I also remember my parents watching the fifth estate that had a similar opening as well but instead of atari-like letters it was typed on paper. Anyone remember?

[cpvgc80]

AHHHHHHHHHHHH!

[hachibeach151]

I think that background music needs to be sampled by Fatboy Slim into another house classic to raise the roof, if it hasn't been done already.

What say you all, eh?

[orion6336]

Didn't scare me at the time when I was a kid. We probably thought it was high tech, along with playing "computer games" like Pong.

[ilovedumontnetwork]

i like it.

[CelesteK]

I was two and in bed by the time this aired. :) I remember Nolton Nash very well. Does anybody have a clip of the Journal with Barbra Frum floating around anywhere? I'd love to see it.

[suburbanite2]

look her up at the cbc archives

[88HJS]

An opening to "The Journal" in 1992, only a month before Frum's death: watch?v=68vcVilZLEY

[mrceleb2006]

That was, indeed, a cool title sequence.

[mrceleb2006]

When I first saw this title sequence on TV back in the late 1970s, I wasn't scared at all. Honest.

[cpowers94]

Thank goodness I didn't live through this era. If I did, I would have been scared witless every night at 11pm, and would still have nightmares about it 20 years later

[Stratman78]

I think I would've been freaking out as well at that time. Now looking at that for the first time, that looks so "Atari's" in a way but it looks so cool & hilarious now! But then, I think I would've turned it off & duck my head under the covers.

[vidlivs]

@cpowers94 I was a kid and I do remember this opening as slightly catchy. McPhee's voice introducing Nash sounded as if he was introducing a horror movie, but the news on CBC was always dull as a kid. I did watch the late news as a kid to scare myself and WKBW in Buffalo in the late 70's used to underlay each news video with background music which mirrored the mood of the story. The murder stories and fires would scare me as dark horror movie music would be used while soft stories got a jingle.