It consisted of the CBC-owned CJBC radio station in Toronto and a series of 34 privately owned affiliates from coast-to-coast.

As well, the Dominion Network operated mostly in the evenings, freeing affiliates to air local programming during the day.

Shows carried by the network included Duffy's Tavern, Amos & Andy and Fibber McGee and Molly.

There is an urban legend that a CBC announcer once accidentally gave a station identification as "the Dominion Network of the Canadian Broadcorping Castration", which was popularized when U.S. TV producer Kermit Schaefer included a recreation of this incident on one of his best-selling Pardon My Blooper record albums in the 1950s.

Canadian political pundit Mark Steyn often refers to the CBC as such in his columns.