Pioneers of Broadcasting in Montreal

In 1922, the Canadian government authorized commercial radio broadcasting. By the end of the year, there were approximately sixty stations across the country, including eight in Montreal, and one in Quebec City.

How many of these stations from Quebec do you know? 

CFCF      CKAC      CJBC

CHYC      CFZC      CHCX

CKCS      CFUC      CFCJ

In 1922, the experimental station XWA became CFCF, a Marconi owned and operated commercial radio station. The new station was installed in a completely new building. The Canada Cement company building located at 600 Cathcart St facing Philips Square. It would become the home of CFCF for the first five years of its existence.

From 1922 to 1927, the station’s antenna could be seen on the roof of the building. In 1927, CFCF moved west to a new location in Mount-Royal hotel at 1455 Peel St (today known as Les Cours Mont-Royal). The CFCF studios were located on the top floor of that building from 1927 to 1931.

En 1927, CFCF déménage vers l'ouest et sera situé à l'hôtel Mont-Royal, au 1455 de la rue Peel (Aujourd'hui les Cours Mont-Royal). Sur le toit de l'édifice on voit très bien les antennes de la station. Les studios de CFCF étaient situés au dernier étage de l'édifice de 1927 à 1931.

In 1931, the station moved again, this time to the Kings Hall Building located at 1231 St Catherine West. It was also at the beginning of the 1930s that the station became affiliated with the American NBC network. This gave it access to a wide range of programs. 

After a fire in 1947, the studios relocated to 4824 Cote-des-Neiges Road. In October 1958, another fire occurred in this building, causing serious smoke and water damage to the studios and equipment. However, programming was still able to continue thanks to the support from other stations like CJAD (founded in 1944) and CKVL (founded in 1946.). After that the station moved yet again, this time to the Dominion Square Building at the corner of Peel and Saint-Catherine.

The station belonging to the Dupuis Frères Department Store began transmitting on May 19, 1922 making it the first French language radio station in North America.

A few days after its inauguration, La Presse newspaper reported the following: "The Dupuis Frères Ltée the Grand Department store of the East end, was the first commercial establishment of our metropolis to inaugurate a series of concerts by means of radio."
 

At the same time, it was announced that the store had a department specifically for selling radios. As was the case in other department stores, such as the T. Eaton Company in Toronto (CJCD), the store wanted to use entertainment to advertise for its goods. At the beginning of the summer of 1922, CJBC transmitted a few hours a week, on Wednesdays and Fridays at 9 pm. However, by the end of 1922 this Montreal station had gone off the air.

To publicize its programs, Dupuis Frères added information about their shows to their regular clothing ads in the major newspapers of the time.

In May 1922, La Presse announced that it would have its own radio station: CKAC. During the weeks following this announcement, the newspaper published step-by-step instructions for its readers about how to pick up the station. The station went on the air officially on September 30.

Movie stars like Mary Pickford and Douglas Fairbanks were invited to the studio. As was the custom then, there was a piano in the studio. At the beginning of 1923, an electric Casavant organ was even installed! Both CKAC and CFCF regularly invited the Dow Brewery orchestra into its studios as well.

In 1929, the CKAC studios moved to Sainte-Catherine St., at the corner of Stanley. CKAC built a much more powerful 18,000Watt transmitter in Saint-Hyacinthe.

It should be noted that another Montreal daily newspaper, “La Patrie,” also had its own radio station. It was called CHLP and was launched on New Year’s Eve 1933. The station would remain on the air until 1957.

Not much is known about radio stations CHYC, CKCS, and CFZC except that they belonged to Northern Electric, Bell Telephone, and Westinghouse. It is possible that these companies may have thought it useful to offer programs to satisfy the buyers of the radio receivers they manufactured.

In 1927, CHYC broadcast for four hours a week and shared the same frequency as CKAC (La Presse), CFCF (Marconi), and CNRM (Canadian National). CHYC was located in the Northern Electric plant on Shearer Street in Pointe-Saint-Charles and remained on the air until 1932.

CHCW, CFUC, and CFJC did not last very long. In 1922, while La Presse was publishing daily programing guides of American Stations as well as CFCF, CJBC, CKAC, there was no mention of these other stations.

In the 1920s, the radio was a curiosity. The receivers were relatively complex. Often professional help was required to set it up and get it working. Large public presentations were organized in movie theaters or in major Montreal hotels.

Railways, and more specifically the Canadian National Railway (CNR), newly created by the Canadian government, also wanted to become a broadcaster. Its subsidiary, the Canadian National Telegraph Company, received a mandate to serve all of Canada. The president of the Company, Sir Henry Thornton, created a division called “Radio”. Its goal was to improve the quality of passenger service and as well as the overall image of the CNR with its employees and the general public. A network of stations was formed.

Soon, about ten stations, including CNRA (Atlantic), CNRM (Montreal), CNRO/CKCH (Ottawa), CNRT (Toronto) and CNRC (Vancouver) were added gradually. They were interconnected using the company’s wired telegraph network.

In July 1923, the first CNR train equipped with radio receivers left Montreal for Western Canada. All along the route, Northern Electric radio stations relayed shows programmed by the CNR.

Aboard these cars, operators tuned in to programs from CNR network stations as well as from American stations. The passengers, seated in comfortable chairs in a specially equipped car, could listen to these broadcasts using headphones.

Of course, people living near the transmitting stations could also receive CNR programs. By 1932 the network consisted of thirteen stations, when it was acquired by the newly formed Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC).

The competing Canadian Pacific Railway, was not to be outdone. The CPR was not looking to form its own network but did own a transmitter. It had cars specially equipped to pick up the radio stations located near the towns where they stopped before the CNR, evidenced by this photo taken from the June 19, 1922 edition of La Presse newspaper.

Railway network 1927-1932

From 1927, the CNR linked its stations and organized them into a network. The same was true for the CPR. In July, a program was broadcast from coast to coast on the occasion of the Diamond Jubilee of Canadian Confederation.

National networks

In 1932, the Canadian government acquired the CNR network and formed the first national network under the name of Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission. After criticism of its programming and its operations, the network became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1936.