''The John Allan Cameron Show'' was a

Canadian television Television in Canada officially began with the sign-on of the nation's first television stations in Montreal and Toronto in 1952. As with most media in Canada, the television industry, and the television programming available in that country, ...

variety series Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a compè ...

produced by

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

in Halifax from 1979 to 1980, with repeat episodes airing until 1982. This was the second national television series featuring host

John Allan Cameron John Allan Cameron, (16 December 1938 – 22 November 2006) was a Canadian folk singer, "The Godfather of Celtic Music" in Canada. Noted for performing traditional music on his twelve string guitar, he released his first album in 1969. He r ...

(1938–2006). His previous series, ''

'', was broadcast on private network CTV in 1975 and 1976.

Regular and guest participants

Many of the guests in the series' first season were athletes such as

Trevor Berbick Trevor Berbick (1 August 1954 – 28 October 2006) was a Jamaican professional boxer who competed from 1976 to 2000. He won the WBC heavyweight title in 1986 by defeating Pinklon Thomas, then lost it in his first defense in the same year to Mi ...

Don Fontana Donald Fontana (1 January 1931 – 17 July 2015) was a former high-ranking Canadians, Canadian tennis player from the 1950s and 1960s. Fontana was the year-ending no. 2 ranked Canadian player six times, three times in the 1950s and three more i ...

Tony Gabriel Anthony Michael Peter Gabriel (born December 11, 1948) is a former professional Canadian football pass receiver who played in the Canadian Football League from 1971 to 1981. He played for both the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Ottawa Rough Riders. ...

Nancy Garapick Nancy Ellen Garapick (born September 24, 1961) is a former Canadian competition swimmer, Olympic medallist, and former world record-holder. She won two bronze medals in the 100-metre backstroke and 200-metre backstroke at the 1976 Summer Olympic ...

, Brian Heaney,

Eddie Shack Edward Steven Phillip Shack (February 11, 1937July 25, 2020), also known by his nicknames "the Entertainer" and "the Nose", was a Canadian professional ice hockey player of Ukrainian descent who played for six National Hockey League (NHL) teams ...

, Errol Thompson and

Debbie Van Kiekebelt Deborah "Debbie" Van Kiekebelt (born March 1, 1954, in Kitchener, Ontario) is a Canadian athlete and sports broadcaster. She was a gold medallist in the pentathlon at the 1971 Pan American Games, and was named that year's Canadian Woman Athlete ...

. The second season's non-musical content featured Hollywood-themed segments where Cameron would portray legendary entertainment stars and movie characters. Series regulars Hughie and Allen presented a comic newscast entitled "News From Home". Musical performances featuring Cameron and his band were staged in Seaton Auditorium at Halifax's

Mount Saint Vincent University Mount Saint Vincent University, often referred to as the Mount, is a public, primarily undergraduate, university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and was established in 1873. Mount Saint Vincent offers undergraduate Arts, Science, Edu ...

. Series guests included

Bruce Cockburn Bruce Douglas Cockburn ( ; born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter and guitarist. His song styles range from folk to folk- and jazz-influenced rock to soundscapes accompanying spoken stories. His lyrics reflect interests in spirit ...

Denny Doherty Dennis Gerrard Stephen Doherty (November 29, 1940 – January 19, 2007) was a Canadian singer, songwriter and musician. A tenor, he was a founding member of the 1960s musical group the Mamas & the Papas for which he was inducted into the Rock ...

The Good Brothers The Good Brothers are a Canadian country, bluegrass and folk music group originating from Richmond Hill, Ontario. The band's core members are Brian Good (guitar), his twin brother Bruce Good (autoharp) and younger brother Larry Good (banjo). ...

Steve Goodman Steven Benjamin Goodman (July 25, 1948 – September 20, 1984) was an American folk and country singer-songwriter from Chicago. He wrote the song " City of New Orleans", which was recorded by artists including Arlo Guthrie, John Denver, The ...

Murray McLauchlan Murray Edward McLauchlan, (born 30 June 1948) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist, pianist, and harmonica player. He is best known for his Canadian hits "The Farmer's Song," "Whispering Rain," and "Down by the Henry Moore". Early life ...

, Will Millar (

The Irish Rovers The Irish Rovers is a group of Irish musicians that formed in Toronto, Canada in 1963'Irish Rovers are Digging out those old Folk songs', By Ballymena Weekly Editor, Ballymena Weekly Telegraph, N. Ireland – 20 August 1964 and named after the ...

Tom Paxton Thomas Richard Paxton (born October 31, 1937) is an American folk singer-songwriter whose career spans more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award.

Ronnie Prophet Ronald Lawrence Victor Prophet (26 December 1937 – 2 March 2018) was a Canadian-American country musician and comedy performer. He was born in Hawkesbury, Ontario, Canada. In his childhood, Prophet lived in Calumet, Quebec, and began perfo ...

Tom Rush Tom Rush (born February 8, 1941) is an American folk and blues singer, guitarist, and songwriter whose success helped launch the careers of other singer-songwriters in the 1960s and who has continued his own singing career for 60 years. Life ...

Sonny Terry Saunders Terrell (October 24, 1911 – March 11, 1986), known as Sonny Terry, was an American Piedmont blues and folk musician, who was known for his energetic blues harmonica style, which frequently included vocal whoops and hollers and occas ...

with

Brownie McGhee Walter Brown "Brownie" McGhee (November 30, 1915 – February 16, 1996) was an American folk and Piedmont blues singer and guitarist, best known for his collaboration with the harmonica player Sonny Terry. Life and career McGhee was bor ...

Ian Tyson Ian Dawson Tyson (25 September 1933 – 29 December 2022) was a Canadian singer-songwriter who wrote several folk songs, including " Four Strong Winds" and " Someday Soon", and performed with partner Sylvia Tyson as the duo Ian & Sylvia. Ea ...

Valdy Paul Valdemar Horsdal, (born 1 September 1945), commonly known as Valdy, is a Canadian folk and country musician whose solo career began in the early 1970s. He is known for "Rock and Roll Song", his first mainstream single. Valdy is the winner o ...

Roger Whittaker Roger Henry Brough Whittaker (22 March 1936 – 13 September 2023) was a Kenyan-born British singer-songwriter and musician. His music is an eclectic mixture of folk music and popular songs, the latter variously in a crooning or in a schlager ...

and

Mason Williams Mason Douglas Williams (born August 24, 1938) is an American classical guitarist, composer, singer, writer, comedian, and poet, best known for his 1968 instrumental " Classical Gas" and for his work as a comedy writer on ''The Smothers Brothers ...

. Skip Beckwith was the series musical director, who also played bass for Cameron's band, "The Cape Breton Symphony".

Scheduling

The first season in 1979 was a summer series which aired on Fridays at 9 p.m. Eastern time. 1980's second season began in October 1980, running on Wednesdays at 7:30 p.m. until December of that year. CBC aired brief repeat runs of the series in 1981 and 1982 on Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m.

References

External links

CBC Archives: ''Morningside'': Remembering Canada's 'godfather' of Celtic music
*
Queen's University Directory of CBC Television Series
via archive.org) {{DEFAULTSORT:John Allan Cameron Show, The 1979 Canadian television series debuts 1981 Canadian television series endings CBC Television original programming 1970s Canadian music television series Television shows filmed in Halifax, Nova Scotia 1980s Canadian music television series