Christmas memories from P.E.I.'s Sleepytown Express 'How special it must have been for people to have Santa come into their home'

By Viola Pruss, CBC News Posted: Dec 19, 2016 8:30 PM AT

The sound crackles and buzzes, but come Christmastime Islander Kathy Large still listens to archived recordings of her mother interviewing Santa Claus.

Betty Rogers Large was the longtime host and producer of The Sleepytown Express, a much-beloved P.E.I. radio show that aired on P.E.I. radio station CFCY from the early 1930s to 1960s.

"In those early days of radio, it was true magic that that sort of thing got on the air," Large said. "It literally came out of thin air and people were just amazed by the new technology."

In an interview with CBC Radio: Mainstreet, Large — an award-winning broadcaster herself — said her mother, who became known as The Storyteller, introduced her young listeners to many characters of her own imagination including the Bubble Fairy and Mickey the Elf.

Recording bed-time stories

The Sleepytown Express started out as a very simple show, said Large.

The Sleepytown Express was a P.E.I. radio show that captured the imagination of thousands of Island children, and was hosted and produced by the late Betty Rogers Large.

(Photo courtesy Prince Edward Island History Blogspot)

Her grandfather, Keith Sinclair Rogers, who founded and operated CFCY, wanted to test his new station — so he ran a microphone to his childrens' bedroom and recorded 12-year-old Betty reading stories to her younger brother.

"She would just read for a long time and he would have a voice track to test the station," Large said.

As the years went on and the station got into proper broadcasting, Rogers Large began telling her own stories on air.

What listeners didn't know was all the characters were played by people working at the station or recruited to fill the part, said Large.

"The elf Mickey at one point was George Scantlebury, who lived across the street from the station," she said.

Talking to Santa

But the highlight of The Sleepytown Express were her mother's annual interviews with Santa, said Large

CFCY had convinced its young audience that the station had a direct link to the North Pole. Every Christmas, her mother would not only talk to Santa but also invite children to send in their telegrams to him.

Letters arrived from as far as the Magdalen Islands, said Large.

The show even heard from people who didn't have electricity and would crank their radio to listen to the show.

"It gives you a sense of how special it must have been for people to have Santa come into their home, maybe hear their name on the radio," Large said.

"At Christmastime, it was on the radio every night after supper, just at the right time for bedtime stories."

The Storyteller

Rogers Large would broadcast for 50 years, eventually publishing a book about her time on the radio, Out of Thin Air.

While she had many roles at the station, being The Storyteller was always her favourite, her daughter said.

"Often people would recognize her by that voice all through her life. And she enjoyed that, she loved the role."

Eager to hear one of these vintage recordings? Click here for some compilations of The Storyteller's Christmas broadcasts.

The audio interview with Kathy Large is first broadcast on CBC Mainstreet is located here.