It is a favourite theme of mine to talk about the role of television in the society of our province. I talked about it at Memorial University this summer. By way of example, television is a serious social force that has impacted us here in Newfoundland and Labrador. Let me remind you now in this festive season of how television impacts Christmas in ways you may not have thought of but are important to us.

I have written about this several times and it is a serious matter. It was the television set that replaced the stove or the fireplace as the central family gathering point in the homes of Newfoundland and Labrador. Think about that. It is not an original thought, but it is absolutely true. Things changed fundamentally in Newfoundland when CJON went on the air in the 1950’s. It changed us as a people. CJON had this marvellous promotional slogan – CJON Television: Your Window on the World. Truer words were never spoken. Television burst upon us and drew us in and it changed our expectations. Evenings and whole seasons were measured not by the clock but by television. In my own childhood on Sunday nights; December Bride; Walt Disney; Ed Sullivan; and Bonanza chimed the hours. Where television really shined though and even help bring us together was at Christmas.

Television took on a particular importance during the Christmas season. CJON, as we were called in those days, presented special movies that became part of our holidays. You may remember Heidi or It’s a Wonderful Life or Miracle on 34th Street. I am sure you remember the 1951 Alistair Sim version of A Christmas Carol. Sim was a wonderful stage actor who was able to do whole sections of dialogue without edits. (The section on the stairs on Christmas morning comes to mind.) I still watch it. Just last night I watched another old Christmas movie with my wife. It was The Bells of St. Mary’s with Bing Crosby that I had first watched with my parents when I was a child. It was the classic feel-good movie. Like many Christmas movies, it is a story of redemption and faith. Christmas is all about redemption. In fact, it is chapter one of the ultimate redemption story. It was great then and still is.

There was as well in the early days of television, which means CJON in Newfoundland, a tradition of the season which was Don Jamieson reading The Night Before Christmas to his young family as part of CJON’s News Cavalcade. It became part of OUR Christmas in a way. That’s the power of television.

Now in this year of Our Lord 2025 things have changed much but, in many ways, they have not changed at all. Is TV still important? Of course it is. Television wasn’t just a fad but there isn’t just a single TV in the modern home in Newfoundland and Labrador anymore. There are TV’s all over the place. I saw a fridge at a modern department store a few years ago which had a TV set built into the door. Go figure.

Today we have our movies of Christmas and for many they are often the same movies we watched in our past. It is a real part of Christmas. It is no accident that the central theme in all the movies mentioned is Christmas saving people. The notion of redemption and thoughts about right and wrong do speak loudly to our “better angels.” That is a good thing.

Somewhere in there is the real lesson. As much as we celebrate the joy of Christmas it is as well very much a season of reflection when we look inward and sometimes backward. There is always to haunt us the ghost of Christmas past. Reflection and celebration. Thoughts of family and friends and of times past. All part of the magic that is still part of the Christmas season.

You can contact Jim Furlong at [email protected]