Research Findings

The purchase of the first radio was an event in Canadian homes and frequently recalled in detail. Many Canadians waited until almost the end of the 1930s to make their first radio purchase. A number of factors may have come into play firstly the economic depression of the 1930s. Even though there was a wide range of prices for radios extending from the simple, owner-assembled crystal set to the larger radio sets housed in large pieces of furniture, the table-top models introduced in the 1930s did a great deal to bring the price down. Radio set sales across Canada outpaced other new consumer durables such as the automobile, refrigerator and the electric vacuum cleaner. Even so the price of a radio set represented a substantial portion of the average worker’s wages. Radio reception and the national coverage provided by stations remained a concern even after the creation of the CBC.

Two interview subjects remarked that their families purchased their first radio in the last few years of the 1930s, both lived on Cape Breton Island and just beyond the guaranteed broadcast range of the CBC’s newly constructed regional station in 1939. Thus their listening choices would have been limited in the same way as those of the rural Quebeckers.

The first radio was special event for many people and a purchase recalled with ease.

One listener, a Montreal newlywed in 1931, explained that she had a large radio housed in an elaborate piece of furniture that was a wedding gift that year from her brother. Another listener from the 1930s remembered that their family’s first radio was a surprise and a Christmas present to the whole family from her brother, who had recently started working and had saved up for the purchase. Yet another recalled that her parents went out to buy the radio. A Toronto listener remembered her uncle assembling their radio from a cereal box.

No real trend has emerged in the interviews with regard to the control of the dial. In some cases, if a crystal set was used in the home, the person who assembled it used it most and then others took turns. Women home during the day sometimes felt too busy to sit down to listen to radio and others tuned it on for company all day long. Usually parents decided when the family would listen to radio, how long it would be on, and to which program it would be tuned. Some families shared it all around.

Frequently the selection of the programs was left to one family member, usually one of the parents. However in some homes, especially later in the decade older children had a chance to choose some of the programs. In the case of the homes where the father controlled program choices news was more frequently offered as a preferred programming choice.

Listening and sharing

Listening habits varied with the region, circumstances, place of the respondent in the family, and availability of the leisure time to listen to the radio. The family who received the radio as a Christmas present eagerly shared the radio, each member having a preference: the brother sports, the respondent loved music, and her father having already established a pattern of listening to the news on a neighbour’s radio continued to listen to the news.

Saving electricity

Two respondents indicated that given the economic circumstances of the time electricity was viewed to be an expensive commodity not to be frivolously wasted. In each case radio listening was very specifically selected by a parent and turned off immediately after the chosen program ended. The newlywed having access to a variety of stations in Canada’s largest city at the time, declared that the radio played all day long and much of the evening.

Wonderful or too busy?

Although some listeners felt enriched by the content that the programs brought into their homes, others viewed it as difficult to schedule into their busy days. Usually the mothers or older daughters, noted that family responsibilities absorbed so much of their time that there was no time to listen to the radio, seeming to indicate that some perceived listening during the 1930s as active rather than a passive background companion. Others felt it was a treasure that brought them music and entertainment.

Active listeners

One Toronto listener explained that the radio was not for children, they listened to one daily program, a favourite of her mother’s. While it was on for 30 minutes daily all activity ceased and everyone “stood around to listen to the program.” In her home her father preferred to get his news from the newspaper. He continued to play the fiddle and visitors danced; the radio did not assume the place of any their other traditional entertainments. Two respondents indicated that the children in their family waited in line for their respective turns to listen to the radio.

A solitary pursuit

Another Toronto listener remembers the earphones and the crystal set in their home as the solitary activity of her father in the rocking chair.

Music crossed cultural and language barriers allowing for greater enjoyment of the medium. One young mother of three in Belleville remembered that her Italian-speaking husband, who was less comfortable in English, would select radio programs during the evening and have her translate the news. Certain programs required too much effort to comprehend and consequently held little appeal, but he always enjoyed musical programming. Another Toronto listener from a Polish-speaking family with seven children explained that there was little time to listen to the radio, but her father enjoyed the news and all of them liked to listen to music. Different genres of music were mentioned, country music in particular was a popular choice for some of the listeners interviewed. In Montreal an Italian-speaking family listened to the opera on the weekends as did the family of Italian descent in Belleville. Yet another from Nova Scotia remembers the Gaelic music as a favourite in her home.

Many of the interviews reveal a preference for local stations. However many of the listeners close to the border listened to U.S. stations.

Canadian radio programs

These are a few of the popular programs broadcast by Canadian radio stations.

Happy Gang

“Knock, knock. Who’s there? It’s the Happy Gang! Well, come on in!”