Regular features of the show during Wisdom's tenure included: • Ten Singles in Alphabetical Order. After host David Wisdom alphabetized his mammoth 7" vinyl 45 rpm singles collection by artist, he set aside time each weekend to play one single each by ten consecutive alphabetized artists, starting at "A" and continuing until he reached the end of his collection in the "Z"s (approximately nine years later). • Listener requests via answering machine. Night Lines listeners could call up an answering machine in CBC's Vancouver studios and, after answering a "skill-testing question" (by rule, something open-ended and usually bordering on philosophical, such as "What do you want to be when you grow up?"), request a song for Wisdom to play during the following weekend's shows. Regular callers to the request line became part of the show's fabric. Some consistent callers included Vicki from
Surrey (who later moved and became Vicki from
Vancouver), Gilbert from
Transcona (who used a mock-
Gilbert Gottfried voice on the answering machine), Norm from
Richmond, Rocky from
Thunder Bay, Milton the Cabbie, Joanna from
Hamilton, Sonya from Port Lambton, Ontario, Sean from Brandon, Manitoba, and Lori from Southfield, Michigan (USA). • Soundbite Sensation Contests. Once each year, Wisdom would create a 6-to-8 minute audio
collage containing bits of 50-100 different songs, and challenge listeners to identify the songs found within, with prizes (usually Night Lines T-shirts) going to the top entries. The collages usually had a unifying theme, among them guitar riffs, beginnings of songs, and celebrity names sung in song lyrics. • The Hour of Power, in which control of the airwaves was turned over to an audience member for one hour each weekend. When this feature started, listeners would send in scripts containing text for Wisdom to read on-air and lists of songs to play in-between the spoken text. As time went on, more and more Hours of Power were performed live in-studio by listeners, musicians, friends of David Wisdom's, etc.
Grant Lawrence, now one of the hosts on
CBC Radio 3, began his association with the CBC as a contributor to
Night Lines, calling the show to share stories about life on tour with his band
The Smugglers. ==Cancellation==