Five or six years ago, the CBC Prince Edward Island afternoon programme Main Street — I think it was during the Nils Ling dynasty — ran a contest where listeners were invited to come up with lyrics to the theme song to the morning radio programme Island Morning.

That theme song had a timeless quality about it: it was a cross between a space ballad and the music you might expect to hear in Tootsie when Dustin Hoffman is hitting his stride as a cross-dressing soap opera star. I expect many Islanders heard that theme song hundreds, if not thousands of times; certainly the hosts must have it drilled into their heads.

This morning I awoke to a new Island Morning theme song. Because I use “awoke” only as a general description of my activity, I cannot say for sure how it sounds, but my vague recollection is that it was more “Broadcast News” than “Tootsie.”

Now, for all I know, this new theme has been playing for weeks or months, as the pre-9:00 a.m. hours are not ones during which I tend to be awake.

I hope they gave the old theme song a good send-off. Perhaps it can find new life in, say, the former Soviet Union where a new radio station, operating in the fragile shell of burgeoning democracy, can use it to introduce their own morning show. Don’t be surprised if, when on your next trip to any of the “-anias” or “-istans,” you hear those familiar rhythms.

Good-bye old theme song; you will be missed.