Content area
Full Text
Abstract: After 10 years during which virtually all radio broadcasting in Canada was in the private sector, in 1932 the Bennett government created the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) as government broadcaster and regulator. The CRBC was a failure in many respects, and in 1936 was superseded by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Nevertheless, the CRBC performed three critical functions for the Canadian state: it subsidized audience - acquisition for private broadcasters and advertisers, it regulated the content of controversial broadcasts, and it celebrated the nation and the Empire in its programming. Its success in undertaking these three tasks helped ensure that the public broadcasting body was not disbanded but rather reinvigorated in 1936.
Resume: Apres dix annees ou le secteur prive produisait presque toutes les emissions de radio au Canada, le gouvernement de Bennett crea en 1932 la Commission canadienne de la radiodiffusion (CCR), organe gouvernemental de communication et de reglementation. La CCR subit de nombreux echecs dans divers domaines, et fut remplacee par la Societe Radio - Canada en 1936. Neanmoins, la CCR remplit trois fonctions critiques pour l'etat canadien: elle subventionna l'acquisition d'un auditoire pour les stations privees et les annonceurs publicitaires, elle reglementa le contenu d'emissions controversees, et elle celebra la nation et l'Empire dans ses programmes. Le succes de ces trois fonctions aida a assurer que la radio publique au Canada ne fut pas abandonnee mais revigoreeen 1936.
Canadian broadcasting developed almost entirely in the private sector in Its first decade, from 1922 to 1932. Although there were a few stations owned by public corporations, the vast majority of the broadcasting stations in existence in Canada in 1932 were privately owned for purposes of publicity, and/or profit. Unlike other mass media, however, radio broadcasting was quite closely regulated by the state from its earliest days, specifically by the Radio Branch of the federal Department of Marine and Fisheries. This was a consequence of the assumption, dating back to 1905, that wireless communication needed international and national supervision to prevent interference on a limited spectrum and for security reasons. Among other regulations, and unlike the practice in the United States, all Canadian radio owners had to purchase receiving - set licences annually.
Canadian private broadcasters in the 1920s struggled with rising...