{"id":27323,"date":"2017-07-24T18:00:27","date_gmt":"2017-07-24T22:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=27323"},"modified":"2017-07-24T07:55:40","modified_gmt":"2017-07-24T11:55:40","slug":"a-birthday-message-from-ian-mcfarland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/a-birthday-message-from-ian-mcfarland\/","title":{"rendered":"A birthday message from Ian McFarland"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to Colin Newell who forwards the following birthday message<\/a> from Ian McFarland:<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/a>

Ian McFarland receiving his birthday card filled with your messages. (Photo: Colin Newell at DXer.ca)<\/p><\/div>\n

To all my SWL friends & colleagues,<\/p>\n

I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading all your birthday wishes & comments that Colin so kindly collected & transcribed from all your e-mails. For this old man it was a most enjoyable exercise in pure nostalgia. Thank you all so very much! There were lots of familiar names on those messages, and of course, to be truthful, lots of names that weren’t familiar after so many years. Memory loss is, after all, one of the unfortunate drawbacks of getting to the age that people refer to as “elderly”!<\/p>\n

I find it hard to believe that I retired from RCI over a quarter century ago now, mercifully, some years before its impending virtual destruction over the next few years. I’m just grateful that I was at RCI during almost 25 years of RCI’s heyday. I’m also grateful for all the opportunities I had to travel to Europe, the U.S. and other parts of Canada to attend a variety of SWL gatherings and have the opportunity to talk with so many of my listeners. I’m sure that over my years at RCI I met many times more listeners than the rest of RCI staff and management combined.<\/p>\n

Attending all those events, including the three ANARC conventions that were hosted by RCI, gave me many useful insights into what our listeners liked to hear about, and the determined efforts they made, especially in the noisy interference ridden listening environment in Europe, to tune in to my SWL Digest program. I can’t tell you how much that meant to me. Many thanks again for all your wonderful birthday wishes & comments.<\/p>\n

Cheers for now & Good Listening everyone.<\/p>\n

Kind regards.<\/p>\n

Ian.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to Colin Newell who forwards the following birthday message from Ian McFarland: To all my SWL friends & colleagues, I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed reading all your birthday wishes & comments that Colin so kindly collected & transcribed from all your e-mails. For this old man it was a most […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305],"tags":[3345,778],"class_list":["post-27323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","tag-colin-newell","tag-ian-mcfarland"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-76H","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":27283,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/ians-80th-birthday-celebration\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":0},"title":"Ian’s 80th birthday celebration","author":"Thomas","date":"July 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Earlier this month, Colin Newell asked SWLing Post readers for birthday wishes and memories to share with former Radio Canada International host,\u00a0Ian McFarland. Yesterday, I received the following message from Colin: \"For a guy who just turned 80, Ian McFarland looks and sounds amazing. For the 50+ folks that sent\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/Ian-Birthday-Dxer-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":26855,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2017\/07\/lets-wish-ian-a-happy-birthday\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":1},"title":"Let’s wish Ian a Happy Birthday!","author":"Thomas","date":"July 2, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to DXer.ca host, Colin Newell, who requests your help: Ian McFarland is celebrating a very important birthday in July! Please join me in congratulating Ian in this milestone by sending me your best wishes for Ian to our contact\u00a0e-mail. I will transcribe all of these notes onto one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/01\/cbcsianmcfarland.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":64457,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/11\/ian-mcfarland-and-colin-newell-revisit-swl-digest\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":2},"title":"Ian McFarland and Colin Newell Revisit SWL Digest","author":"Thomas","date":"November 2, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Fans of Radio Canada International's SWL Digest will be delighted to hear that Ian McFarland has teamed up with Colin Newell for a new podcast episode, SWL Digest 2025. It\u2019s a nostalgic nod to the classic RCI program and a welcome chance to hear Ian\u2019s familiar voice once again! Listen\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-e1530836181998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-e1530836181998.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-e1530836181998.jpg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Radio-Dial-e1530836181998.jpg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":16326,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/12\/1989-rci-christmas-special-a-studio-recording\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":3},"title":"1989 RCI Christmas Special: a studio recording","author":"Thomas","date":"December 19, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to\u00a0Colin Newell who writes: Over on the DXer.ca homepage I have a 32kbps MP3 recording on a CBC RCI broadcast that has not been heard since December 1989! A 1 hour program from the Reel-Reel master\u00a0that Ian McFarland owns. Head on over - download for free - And\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"UK-DXer-RCI-QSL","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/03\/UK-DXer-RCI-QSL-300x204.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":16531,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2016\/01\/dx-podcast-returns\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":4},"title":"DX Podcast returns","author":"Thomas","date":"January 2, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Colin Newell from DXer.ca has just announced the return of the DX Podcast: The DXer.ca site has been on the air for over 20 years now! And we are now pleased to announce... the return of the DX Podcast! We ran this little show way back in 2008 and it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Mediumwave"","block_context":{"text":"Mediumwave","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/mediumwave\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Analog Radio Dial","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/05\/swdial.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":15160,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2015\/10\/toms-1981-off-air-recording-of-rcis-shortwave-listeners-digest-hosted-by-ian-mcfarland\/","url_meta":{"origin":27323,"position":5},"title":"Tom’s 1981 off-air recording of RCI’s Shortwave Listener’s Digest hosted by Ian McFarland","author":"Thomas","date":"October 14, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Tom Laskowski, has been generously contributing\u00a0a number of off-air shortwave radio recordings to the Shortwave Radio Audio Archive (SRAA). Recently, he shared a series I'm sure many of you remember. Tom writes: \"My first contribution of many recordings I have of Radio Canada International's Shortwave Listener's Digest hosted by Ian\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"I snapped a photo of this propagation poster in RCI's Sackville, NB transmitter site only months befor ethe site was closed.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_2183.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_2183.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_2183.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/10\/IMG_2183.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}