CNR Radio

The network's origins were in the establishment by CNR president and chairman Sir Henry Thornton on June 1, 1923 of the CNR Radio Department after the CNR began installing radio sets with headphones in their passenger cars and needed stations to provide programming that passengers could listen to along the CNR's various routes, particularly its coast-to-coast transcontinental line. The general public could also receive the broadcasts if they lived in the vicinity of a CNR radio station and CN hotels were also equipped with radio sets for guests. Radio was also intended as an innovation that made travel on CNR trains more attractive and provided it with a competitive advantage over its rival, the Canadian Pacific Railway. The first regularly scheduled coast-to-coast network program produced by CN Radio was broadcast December 27, 1928. By the end of 1929 there were three hours of national programming a week. The CNR used its already-established network of telegraph wires along the rail line to connect the stations. ==Aims==

In comments to the House of Commons of Canada, the radio service's aims were: In 1929, the CNR's brief to the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting stated that the radio service had five aims. • to advertise the railway • to publicize Canada's attractions to tourists • to entertain passengers • to "create a proper spirit of harmony among [CNR employees] and a broader appreciation of Management" • to assist colonization of Canada by providing radio service to remote settlers. CNR president Thornton saw CNR Radio as a device to diffuse "ideas and ideals nationally by radio". ==Programming==

While most programming was produced locally, increasingly there was a trend towards centralization and producing content with a national scope. Programming consisted largely of live music, drama, educational broadcasts, children's programming and simulcasts of American programming. Public service broadcasts such as news bulletins, weather reports, and local announcements were included. In 1927, CNRV in Vancouver aired a series of music lessons prepared by the Vancouver School Board. Thornton hoped Romance of Canada would "kindle in Canadians generally a deeper interest in the romantic early history of their country". and was also known as Saturday Night Hockey featuring games of the Toronto Maple Leafs in Ontario and the Montreal Maroons and Montreal Canadiens in Quebec. Music programing included Old-Time Fiddlers contests which were broadcast to the full network from Moncton. In 1925, CNRT in Toronto broadcast a complete performance of Yeoman of the Guard as well as performances of classical music. In the same year, CNRM in Montreal broadcast a complete in-studio production of The Mikado and other Gilbert and Sullivan comic operas with a full orchestra and CNR Radio signed a contract with the Hart House String Quartet and in 1927, put them on national tour with broadcasts from each station in celebration of Beethoven's centenary. By the 1930s, the network was airing condensed studio productions of great operas. CNRV Vancouver produced several shows celebrating Beethoven's centenary. Other programming included broadcasts in French beginning in 1924 with the opening of CNRM in Montreal; by the 1930s CNR Radio had a French network in operation. ==Operations==

Thornton's goal was for the CNR to create a network of radio stations along the CNR's transcontinental line from coast-to-coast with CNR sponsoring and controlling the content allowing programming across the country to be consistent, if desired, so that passengers could listen to programmes consistently as they travelled across the country rather than have conflicting programs fade in and fade out along the way. The radio network broadcasts could be received by train passengers through headsets or loud speakers aboard specially equipped train cars ==Demise==

In 1928, the Liberal government of William Lyon Mackenzie King commissioned a Royal Commission on Broadcasting (the Aird Commission) to study the future of radio in Canada. The Aird Commission issued its report in late 1929 calling for the creation of a public broadcasting system in Canada along the lines of the British Broadcasting Corporation and other national broadcasters around the world in order to prevent U.S. domination of Canadian airwaves and to promote national objectives. To this end, the report called for the creation of a Canadian Radio Broadcasting Company which would build high-powered radio stations across the country as part of a public radio network. Meanwhile, CNR's radio network was a target of its commercial rival, the privately owned Canadian Pacific Railway. CNR Radio was a commercial venture with the primary purpose of attracting riders to the CNR by offering them entertainment as well as, beginning in 1929, The 1930 federal election resulted in the defeat of the Mackenzie King government and the assumption of power by a Conservative government led by R.B. Bennett who, as a corporate lawyer who had had the Canadian Pacific Railway as one of his clients, proved sympathetic to its arguments and opposed any government competition with the CPR and was determined to strip the CNR of its radio network. In November 1931, as a result of intense pressure from the Railway Committee of the House of Commons of Canada, the CNR ended its on-train radio reception service, In early 1933, the CNR sold its radio stations and studios to the CRBC for $50,000; In turn, the CRBC's facilities and much of its staff were taken over by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation when it was created in 1936. ==CNR owned and operated stations==

• CNRO Ottawa • CNRV Vancouver - later CRCV and CBR, now CBU ==CNR leased "phantom stations"==

• CNRC Calgary leasing CFAC • CNRW Winnipeg leasing CKY • CNRM Montreal leasing CKAC • CNRQ Quebec leasing CKCV • CNRR Regina leasing CKCK • CNRS Saskatoon leasing CFQC • CNRD Red Deer leasing CKLC • CNRL London leasing CJGC • CNRH Halifax leasing CHNS Phantom stations also existed at various times in Saint John, Fredericton, London/Kitchener-Waterloo, Chatham, Brandon, Yorkton, Red Deer, two in Hamilton, a third in Toronto and one in Michigan. ==See also==