Friday, September 26, 2014

#163 09-27-2014 The Power of Music



The final "horse talk" episode might surprise you! What actually went to air was an "advance chance to listen" to the New Horizons show (Episode #11), that I have been working on for Monday mornings at CFRU.


The music industry is quite unique. The market is vast and diverse and you includes very different types of customers. A music store must cater to everyone from an absolute beginner musician to professional recording engineer to world class performer. Products range from a fifteen cent guitar pick to forty thousand dollar instruments to even more costly sound and recording gear. Meanwhile, total sales for the music industry in Canada make it a small industry with a vast and diverse product array to sell.

As a trumpet player, Jack Long has been called the Canadian Chet Baker. But he is even more well known as a pioneer in the Canadian music business, who co-founded a music and instrument store, back in 1956, that still caters to the needs of the professional working musician. With 65 Long & McQuade locations today, the shops are known among touring artists, as a welcome stop enroute to their various destinations, right across Canada. Jack has also lead the way in other areas of the music industry, including offering rental instruments, music education, and financing; not to mention designing and building world class sound systems and amplifiers.

In addition to building Long & McQuade, Jack also established Yorkville Sound as a separate manufacturing and distribution company in 1963. Yorkville Sound continues to manufacture Yorkville Pro Audio, VTC ProAudio, and the Traynor guitar and bass amp brands at its facility in Pickering Ontario.

Several years ago The Toronto Musicians' Association was proud to name an award after Jack Long and honour him as the first recipient. More recently it was announced that the 2014 appointments to the Order of Canada, included Yorkville Sound Founder and Chairman, Jack Long. The Order of Canada, is one of our country’s highest civilian honours, to recognize outstanding achievement, dedication to the community and service to the nation.
Jack Long was interviewed at Evergreen Community Centre,
at CFRU's Mobile Studio, for New Horizons radio.





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