Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission

Canadian broadcasting in the 1920s developed largely through private stations, railway broadcasting and experimental services. By the end of the decade, policymakers were increasingly concerned about uneven Canadian coverage, interference among stations, and the growing influence of American radio signals and network programs. The federal government appointed the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting in 1928 to study how broadcasting could best serve Canadian listeners and national interests.

The Aird Commission reported on 11 September 1929 and recommended a national public broadcasting system. It proposed a public body that would regulate private broadcasters and operate its own programs and stations. The report also called for high-power stations across Canada, financed by radio licence fees, limited advertising and public funding.

Implementation was delayed by the onset of the Great Depression and by the change of government after the 1930 Canadian federal election. In 1930, Graham Spry and Alan Plaunt founded the Canadian Radio League, which campaigned for a publicly controlled national broadcasting system based on the Aird recommendations.

A constitutional issue also had to be resolved. In 1932, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council confirmed that radio broadcasting fell under federal jurisdiction. The Bennett government then introduced the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act, which established the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission on 26 May 1932.

Prime Minister Bennett defended public control of broadcasting, arguing that Canada required Canadian control over broadcasting if radio was to foster national consciousness and national unity.

One of the CRBC's first major actions was to purchase the former CNR Radio stations in Ottawa, Vancouver and Moncton for $50,000. The Commission also acquired or used CNR studios and facilities in several cities. It established or leased stations in Montreal, Chicoutimi and Toronto, and recruited private stations in other cities to carry at least three hours a day of CRBC network programming. These private outlets were known as "basic stations".

CRBC-owned or leased stations generally used call signs beginning with "CRC". Because the Commission lacked the funds to build a full national system of high-power transmitters, much of its national coverage depended on privately owned affiliates. Where more than one station served a market, stations that were not the basic affiliate could carry CRBC programs not broadcast by the basic station.

Several former CNR Radio employees joined the CRBC. E. Austin Weir, formerly of CNR Radio, became the first program director, but he was demoted and then dismissed after disagreements with the commissioners over the pace and volume of programming. The CRBC then hired experienced private-sector broadcasters, including Ernie Bushnell, who became responsible for programs originating in Ontario and Western Canada, Arthur Dupont, who oversaw Quebec and the Maritimes, and Horace Stovin, who became western program director.

Regulation

The CRBC was both a broadcaster and the national broadcasting regulator. Under the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Act, it was responsible for supervising private radio stations as well as its own network. Its regulatory functions included decisions about station licensing, location, power, frequency use, and the balance between local and national programming.

The Commission's dual role was later inherited by the CBC. In 1958, regulatory responsibility was separated from the public broadcaster and assigned to the Board of Broadcast Governors. In 1968, a new Broadcasting Act created the Canadian Radio-Television Commission, later renamed the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission.

Advertising and controversy

The CRBC was underfunded compared with the system recommended by the Aird Commission. Its budget was far below the $2.5 million recommended by the Aird Report, and the Commission increasingly turned to sponsored programming and advertising to supplement government support. In its final year, the CRBC earned $236,000 from sponsored programs.

The Commission was criticized from several directions. The Canadian Radio League, which had campaigned for public broadcasting, argued that the CRBC was not ambitious enough and that its programming was too weak. The Liberal opposition accused the Commission of favouring the governing Conservatives.

During the 1935 Canadian federal election campaign, the CRBC broadcast a series of 15-minute dramatized political programs called Mr. Sage, created by the Conservative Party's advertising agency. The programs criticized William Lyon Mackenzie King and the Liberal Party of Canada. After King won the election, the incident became one of the factors behind the Liberal government's decision to replace the CRBC with a new public broadcaster.