- by John Christie

Every late weekday afternoon in December for more than a quarter of a century, young listeners were invited along for a visit to the North Pole with St. Nick himself. They were invited to write in to the Jolly Old Elf in care of CFOS. Santa and his helpers would read these letters on the air. Of course, those "helpers" were a key component of the show's success. Sales manager Russ Tomlinson scripted each and every show. He incorporated characters into the Santa Saga who would be unique to the Owen Sound area audience and become etched in the memories of the local kids who grew up in this era.
Peek-A-Boo was a little, high-voiced invisible elf who secretly visited kids to find out whether they had been bad or good. His arrival and departure on the air was always accented by the"swoosh" of the mouth organ, up when he showed up, down when he departed.
Father Time was a wizened, bearded gent who kept track of the North Pole clocks and kept everyone, including Santa, efficient and on time.
Mrs. Twiddle was a sort of assistant to both St. Nick and Mrs. Claus who also took her turn on the show interacting with the capital Red-Suited host and reading kids' letters.
The most amazing part of all of these unique-to-CFOS characters was that Russ Tomlinson, who created them in the scripts, also provided the voices for every one of them. The only vocal part of the show he didn't do was Santa himself. That helper role for the Big Guy at the North Pole was assumed for years by Jack Hawken, who also worked as a part-time weekend announcer for some years and later by long-time station employee and announcer Ron Boyd.
Complete with appropriate sound effects and music, this Santa shows became the last hold out for production in the tradition of the old time radio theaters. Well into the 1970s, they continued to provide Christmas magic to young listeners

Many thanks to John Christie for this excerpt from his book Sound Success 75 years of CFOS. This and John's other books are available from The Ginger Press in downtown Owen Sound