History of broadcasting in Canada
Radio was introduced in Canada in the late 1890s, although initially transmissions were limited to the dot-and-dashes of Morse code, and primarily used for point-to-point services, especially for maritime communication.
The history of broadcasting in Canada dates to the early 1920s, as part of the worldwide development of radio stations sending information and entertainment programming to the general public.
Major themes in Canadian broadcasting history include: From the late 1890s until 1913 there were few regulations covering radio communication in Canada.
[3] The Radiotelegraph Act of June 6, 1913 established general Canadian policies for radio communication, then commonly known as "wireless telegraphy".
[6] (This policy contrasted with the United States, which only required licenses for operating transmitters, and had no restrictions or taxes on individuals only using receivers).
One pioneer was William Walter Westover Grant,[9] who served in the British Royal Air in France during World War I, where he gained extensive experience installing and maintaining radio equipment.
[11] In 1920 Grant began working for the Canadian Air Board's Forestry patrol, developing air-to-ground communication for the spotter aircraft used to report forest fires, initially using radiotelegraphy.
In addition to the forestry work Grant began making a series of experimental entertainment broadcasts,[14] believed to be the first in western Canada.
[17] At first it only transmitted Morse code, however during the spring of 1919 employee Arthur Runciman began a series of voice tests,[18] although initially the equipment was promoted as being useful for point-to-point communication rather than broadcasting.
[21][22] As was common at a number of early stations, the engineers soon tired of having to repetitively speak for the test transmissions, and began to play phonograph records, which drew the attention of local amateur radio operators.
They were issued by the Department of Marine and Fisheries in Ottawa, by Departmental Radio Inspectors, and by postmasters located in the larger towns and cities, with licence periods coinciding with the April 1-March 31 fiscal year.
[34] In late April 1922 an initial group of twenty-three commercial broadcasting station licences was announced, which received four-letter call signs starting with "CF", "CH", "CJ" or "CK", plus one additional "C" as the third or fourth letter.
"[37] By 1924 this provision was loosened to allow "the rental of broadcasting stations for advertising purposes" after procuring "the consent of the Minister [of Marine and Fisheries] in writing".
[38] Amateur broadcasting stations were issued alphanumeric call signs starting with the number "10", and initially were assigned to transmit on 250 meters (1200 kHz).
[41] At first station audiences consisted largely of young men tinkering with crystal sets, which required the use of earphones so only one person at a time could listen.
[43] Radio signals on the AM band travel great distances at night, and Canada soon found it had few open frequencies due to the existence of its much larger American neighbor.
A major reallocation of U.S. stations on November 11, 1928 informally set aside six frequencies for exclusive Canadian use, but the country complained this was insufficient.
The Canadian National Railway Company (CNR) became interested in radio broadcasting in 1923, due in large part to the leadership of its president, Sir Henry Thornton.
Programs were 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 private radio stations.
Bennett, made the future of the Aird Commission's recommendations favouring public broadcasting uncertain, and the Canadian Radio League was formed to lobby for their implementation.
At its creation, Bennett spoke of the need for public control of radio saying: However the commission had severe internal political troubles, and was replaced in 1936 by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC).
The CBC was controlled by the national government, and funded largely by taxes (licence fees) collected from radio sets owners.
[64] Commercial sponsorship of radio newscasts was banned in Canada into the 1940s, which prompted the government to temporarily suspend the licenses of two American-owned broadcast newswire services, Transradio Press Service and British United Press, as both of them sold paid sponsorships for the news copy it sold to private radio stations in Canada.
Those stations could not pay higher fees to sustain the service, resulting in Standard spending $1 million a year to subsidize its news agency.
[72] In 2007, Broadcast News was rebranded Canadian Press to provide a single identity after CanWest Global left the co-operative.
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 originated from CJOB and retained its original title, while Warren was based in Victoria, British Columbia.)
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.
