Nostalgia Happens During the Long Dash

Canada Lives Here-  in perfect time.

The National Research Council Time Signal is Canada's longest running but shortest radio programme ever. Heard every day since November 5, 1939  I hear it every morning as I listen to Q on CBC Radio One. The spoken header, as announced by a local on-air talent at each station, is typically of the style,

"Now, the National Research Council time signal. The beginning of the long dash following ten seconds of silence indicates exactly 11 o'clock Mountain Daylight Time."

Followed by silence and then a 15 second tone known as 'the long dash'. The first time I heard it I thought it was a warning on the radio. Though it was the dead of winter, I thought perhaps it was a snow storm warning or something. The next day when I heard it again I realised that it was just a time check. I picture my grandfather who favored routine and predictability listening to the radio every morning and checking his pocket watch to the sound of the long dash. Then listening to the 11 o'clock news and as he bugged my grandmother to start making lunch.

It's not much and I'm sure many people in my generation who don't listen to "real" radio any longer may not even know of it's existence. I suspect that my cell phone provider may not even be on board with it because the time it displays never matches up exactly with the announcement. Always about 30 seconds behind the long dash. Regardless, I like it. I like that it's history, I like that it's accurate and I like that it is dependable. When I hear it my mind goes to a place which includes Eaton catalogues, hand knitted mittens with beaten up hockey skates, and an old style radio tuner.

Nostalgia happens during the long dash.

"Your life would go to pieces, but the time signal would remain. The world might crumble, the oceans might rise, and the bombs might fall, but the National Research Council's official time signal would always follow up ten seconds of silence at the same time every day. Archaeologists would discover it, still ticking. Alien archaeologists. From another universe."

Image and above quote borrowed from a 2005 post on Websnark