Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting
Also known as |
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Commissioners |
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Inquiry period | 1928 | – 11 September 1929
Authorized | Order in Council P.C. 2108 |
Final Report |
The Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting, otherwise known as the Aird Commission, was chaired by
History
From 1922-1932, the radio administration came under the Department of Marine and Fisheries.
With only dozens of radio stations broadcasting within Canada, and few Canadian households owning radios, the Radio Broadcasting industry was not a top agenda issue for the Federal Government in the 1920s. However, a series of controversial and ungoverned attacks over the airwaves, directed namely at the Catholic Church and Canadian Government, led it to be a matter of public and political importance. This led to debates on how broadcasting should be managed. These problems included the feeling that religious radio stations had "...emerged as a new weapon with which one religious group could bludgeon another...",[2] and that U.S. stations unfairly dominated the airwaves despite an agreements to reserve some frequencies exclusively for Canadian stations.[3]
The Commissioners
In December 1928, under the direction of
Travelling across
“We believe that private enterprise is to be commended for its effort to provide entertainment for the benefit of the public with no direct return of revenue. This lack of revenue has, however, tended more and more to force too much advertising upon the listener. It also would appear to result in the crowding of stations into urban centres and the consequent duplication of services in such places, leaving other large populated areas ineffectively served.” -John Aird, Report of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting, 1929
Without regulation, the commissioners feared that American radio stations would take over Canada. At this time, the United States was facing issues at their southern border with several “Border Blaster” signals taking listenership away from domestic stations. The Commission sought to protect Canada from such activity.
There were some disagreements amongst Commissioners regarding who should control this new proposed public broadcaster. This debate continued until 1932, when the J.C.P.C. ultimately decided that this was a federal matter.
Based on the report, a national company, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, was set up that would have power to operate and own all radio stations in Canada. Further control was given to the provinces to broadcast the content they want but within the provincial boundaries.[5]
Demise and legacy
After the Liberal government (who initially put together this Commission) had fallen in the Election of 1930, the Aird Report fell into the hands of the new
The set top taxes were not enough for the CRBC to survive off of alone, so there were allotted advertising slots for Canadian businesses. This was dually useful as the crippled Canadian economy would benefit from the business generated.
After some very controversial and partisan programming, the CRBC became a target from the liberal government who had just come back to power with Mackenzie King's most recent re-election in 1935. With 2 formal investigations in the mid-1930s from special Parliamentary Committees, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission was disbanded. The broadcasting element of the CRBC was succeeded by what we know today as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1936. The regulatory element of the CRBC and later the CBC eventually evolved into the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), and then into the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC).[6]
References
- Ingrassia, Joanne (2000). "The Birth and Death of The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (1932-1936)". Archived from the original on 10 October 2006. Retrieved 9 November 2006.
- Gasher, Skinner and Lorimer, Mass Communication in Canada. 7th ed. UP. 2012.Print. Sept, 25 2015.
- * Vipond, Mary. Listening In: The First Decade of Canadian Broadcasting 1922-1932. (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992)
- ^ "CRTC Origins". crtc.gc.ca. Canadian Radio-Television Telecommunications Commission. Archived from the original on 10 January 2012. Retrieved 5 September 2008.
- ^ McGowan, Mark (May 2012). "The People's University of the Air: St. Francis Xavier University Extension, Social Christianity, and the Creation of CJFX". Acadiensis. University of New Brunswick. Retrieved 26 June 2017.
- ^ "Canada Radio Fans Fight Interference." Tampa (FL) Tribune, January 16, 1927, p. 12D.
- ^ Aird, John (1929). "Report of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting" (PDF). publications.gc.ca. Government of Canada.
- .
- ISBN 0-7710-6712-7.