History of broadcasting in Canada

The active history of broadcasting in Canada begins in 1921, as Canadians were swept up in the radio craze and built radio sets to listen to American stations. Main themes in the history include the development of the engineering technology; the construction of stations and the building of networks; the widespread purchase and use of radio and television sets by the public; debates regarding state versus private ownership of stations; financing of the broadcast media through the government, licence fees, and advertising; the changing content of the programming; the impact of the programming on Canadian identity; the media's influence on shaping audience responses to music, sports and politics; the role of the Québec government; Francophone versus Anglophone cultural tastes; the role of other ethnic groups and First Nations; fears of American cultural imperialism via the airwaves; and the impact of the Internet and smartphones on traditional broadcasting media.[1][2]

Early period

American stations could easily be received in the heavily populated parts of Canada. The first Canadian station was XWA, an experimental station from the Marconi Company in Montréal. It began its broadcasts in late 1919 and continued them during 1920. In November 1922, the station was assigned the call letters of CFCF—which stood for Canada's First.[3] In Toronto, the first radio station was operated by the Toronto Star newspaper. The station, CKCE, first used the transmitter and call letters of the Canadian Independent Telephone Company, and began some broadcasts in April 1922.[4] These broadcasts were so well received that The Star pushed forward with its own studios and transmitting facilities, returning to the air as CFCA in late June 1922.[5] Meanwhile in Montreal, another newspaper, La Presse, put its own station, CKAC, on the air in late September 1922. Because there were governmental limitations on radio frequencies back then, CKAC and CFCF alternated—one would broadcast one night, and the other would broadcast the night after that.[6] For a time, CKAC was broadcasting some programs in French, and some in English: in 1924, for example, the station rebroadcast fifteen Boston Bruins hockey games from station WBZ in Boston.[7] Meanwhile, in other Canadian provinces, 1922 was also the year for their first stations, including CJCE in Vancouver, and CQCA (which soon became CHCQ) in Calgary.

At first the audience consisted largely of young men tinkering with crystal sets. They were powered with batteries, and earphones were required to listen so only one person at a time would be connected. In 1925 Edward Rogers invented a radio tube using AC current that immediately became a worldwide standard for much more powerful and easier-to-use radios. He set up the Rogers Majestic company to manufacture radios and established several broadcasting stations, including station 9RB (later CFRB, Toronto).[8] By the late 1920s radio sets were easy to use and widely available. Although expensive, they opened up a much broader audience, attracting the middle class who could afford them, and also restaurants clubs and taverns, who wanted to attract customers. Even remote towns and localities could listen.

A political problem arose: the U.S. stations dominated the airwaves and with a limited number of frequencies available for broadcasters to use; the American stations that seemed to get most of them despite an agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce that a certain number of frequencies were reserved exclusively for Canadian signals. But if a U.S. station wanted one of those frequencies, the Department of Commerce seemed unwilling to stop it, much to the frustration of Canadian owners who wanted to put stations on the air. The Canadian government and the U.S. government began negotiations in late 1926, in hopes of finding a satisfactory solution.[9]

CNR 1923–33

In 1928, Canada got its first network, operated by the Canadian National Railway Company (CNR). CNR had already made itself known in radio since 1923, due in large part to the leadership of its president, Sir Henry Thornton. The company began equipping its trains with radio receivers, and allowed passengers to hear radio broadcasts. In 1924, CNR began building its own stations, and by 1928, it was able to create a network.[10]

CNR Radio was the first national radio network in North America.[11] (officially the Canadian National Railways Radio Department)[12] [13] It was developed, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway between 1923 and 1932 to provide en route entertainment and information for its train passengers. As broadcasts could be received by anyone living in the coverage area of station transmitters, the network provided radio programming to Canadians from the Pacific coast (at Vancouver) to the Atlantic coast (at Halifax).

During its nine-year existence, CNR Radio provided music, sports, information and drama programming to Canadians. Programming was produced in English, French and occasionally in some First Nations languages, and distributed nationwide through the railway's own telegraph lines and through rented airtime on other private radio stations. However, political and competitive pressure forced CNR Radio to close, with many of its assets and personnel migrating to a new government-operated agency the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission.

1930s

In 1932, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) was formed by the Conservative government of R. B. Bennett (1930–35), in large part to counter the American radio threat. The commission had severe internal political troubles and was replaced in 1936 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). CBC was controlled by the national government, and funded largely by licence fees from owners of radio sets. CBC took over the regulatory role of the Radio Branch, and focused most of its attention on providing programming for a national network. However, private stations continued to exist, and they were allowed to rebroadcast CBC programs.[14]

Play-by-play sports coverage, especially of ice hockey, absorbed fans more thoroughly than newspaper accounts ever could. Rural areas were especially influenced by sports coverage. [15]

French-language services

CBC set up a French-language network in Quebec and adjacent Francophone areas. Although the French-language service had little competition from American stations, it proved quite conservative in technology and programming. It was closely aligned with powerful newspaper and church interests and became a propaganda forum for the traditional elites of Quebec. It did not promote separatism or a sense of Québec nationalism. [16][17][18][19] In 1969 the province of Quebec established its own radio and television system, breaking the federal CBC monopoly. Radio-Quebec became an instrument of the provincial government, and often presented separatist viewpoints.[20]

News

The development of radio news broadcasting in Canada, as in the United States, was delayed by bitter conflict between newspaper and radio interests. [21]

Talk radio

Further information: Talk radio

In contrast to talk radio stations in the United States, where syndicated programs tend to make up a significant part of most schedules, privately owned Canadian talk radio stations tend to be predominantly local in programming and focus. There is no Canadian content requirement for talk radio, or "spoken word," programming, unless the individual station's license expressly stipulates such a requirement; most do not. (In Canada, prospective radio stations may propose certain restrictions on their license in order to gain favour with the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission and have an easier time obtaining a license.)[22]

The only nationally syndicated, politically oriented weekday talk radio show in Canada is Adler On Line, hosted by Charles Adler and heard on eleven stations across the country. Until 2006, Peter Warren's Warren on the Weekend was heard Saturdays and Sundays. Both programs are or were distributed by the Corus Radio Network and, coincidentally, both hosts had hosted different morning call-in programs in the same time slot on Winnipeg, Manitoba's CJOB 680 before they became nationally syndicated (Adler's show still originates from CJOB and retained its original title, while Warren was based in Victoria, British Columbia.) Prior to Adler On Line, Corus had syndicated Rutherford, hosted by conservative Dave Rutherford and originating from its Calgary station, QR77. Rutherford is no longer syndicated nationally but continues to air in Calgary, Edmonton, and London.[23]

Other Canadian talk radio programs which have been syndicated to different markets include:

The two largest talk radio networks in Canada are the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English language CBC Radio One and French language Ici Radio-Canada Première. These stations typically produce their own local morning and afternoon programs and regional noon hour programs to go along with the network programming that is aired during the rest of the day. Both networks are commercial-free. CBC Radio One's flagship national talk program is the weekend Cross Country Checkup, which has been broadcast since 1965.

CFRA (580 AM) in Ottawa (formerly part of the CHUM network, which is now part of CTV) has a large and dedicated listening audience. The station is heard throughout the Ottawa valley and on the Internet. Several key programs focus on local political and world issues. Christina Sgro offers a bit of both worlds on her show, Christina's Corner, which has been gaining popularity since its inception in 2010.

Privately owned talk radio syndication networks in Canada are generally formed for the purposes of sharing programs across a group of stations with common ownership, although some are formed to distribute their one or two talk radio programs to a number of stations regardless of ownership. The largest of these is the Corus Radio Network. TSN Radio, the successor to the long-defunct the Team, is one of the newest national networks in Canada, with operations in three of its major markets, and has room for expansion.

See also

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Robert Armstrong, Broadcasting Policy in Canada (2013)
  2. ↑ Marc Raboy, Missed Opportunities: The Story of Canada's Broadcasting Policy (1990)
  3. ↑ Mary Vipond, Listening In: The First Decade of Canadian Broadcasting 1922-1932. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992.
  4. ↑ "Star's Broadcasting Bridges the Sea of Air." Toronto Star, April 5, 1922, pp. 1-2.
  5. ↑ "Broadcast Radio from New Plant in Star Office." Toronto Star, June 22, 1922, p. 1.
  6. ↑ Canadian Communications Foundation History of CKAC Radio
  7. ↑ "Ryan to Announce Hockey Games." Boston Herald, November 22, 1925, p. 21.
  8. ↑ "Edward Samuel Rogers" in Canadian Encyclopedia online
  9. ↑ "Canada Radio Fans Fight Interference." Tampa (FL) Tribune, January 16, 1927, p. 12D.
  10. ↑ "Canada's First Network."
  11. ↑ CBC/Radio-Canada milestones (1901-1939), CBC/Radio-Canada Corporate Website, accessed January 23, 2008
  12. ↑ http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.com/index.cfm?PgNm=TCE&Params=A1ARTA0006642 Radio Drama, English Language], Canadian Encyclopedia, accessed January 23, 2008
  13. ↑ CNR Company Fonds, Provincial Archives of Alberta, accessed January 22, 2008
  14. ↑ Gerald Hallowell, editor, The Oxford Companion to Canadian History (2004) pp 90-91
  15. ↑ Stacy L. Lorenz, "A Lively Interest on the Prairies": Western Canada, the Mass Media, and a 'World of Sport,' 1870-1939," Journal of Sport History (2000) 27#2 pp 195-227
  16. ↑ Mary Vipond, "One Network or Two? French-Language Programming on the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, 1932–36," Canadian Historical Review (2008) 89#3 pp: 319-343.
  17. ↑ Elzéar Lavoie, "L'évolution de la radio au Canada français avant 1940." Recherches sociographiques (1971) 12#1 pp: 17-49.
  18. ↑ Pierre Pagé, Histoire de la radio au Québec: information, éducation, culture (Les Editions Fides, 2007)
  19. ↑ Marie-Thérèse Lefebvre, "Analyse de la programmation radiophonique sur les ondes québécoises entre 1922 et 1939: musique, théâtre, causeries." Les Cahiers des dix (2011) 65: 179-225. online
  20. ↑ Kenneth Cabatoff, "Radio-Quebec: a case study of institution-building." Canadian Journal of Political Science (1978) 11#1 pp: 125-138.
  21. ↑ Mary Vipond, "The continental marketplace: Authority, advertisers, and audiences in Canadian news broadcasting, 1932–1936" (1999)
  22. ↑ Andreas Krebs, "Reproducing colonialism: Subject formation and talk radio in English Canada." Canadian Journal of Political Science 44#2 (2011): 317-339.
  23. ↑ Paul Saurette and Shane Gunster. "Ears wide shut: Epistemological populism, argutainment and Canadian conservative talk radio." Canadian Journal of Political Science 44#1 (2011): 195-218.

Further reading

Primary sources

Online

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