Sunwapta Broadcasting Celebrates 90 Years

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News that CHED will be taking over CHQT's 880 kHz frequency highlights the ever-changing landscape of broadcasting.

It’s been 118 years since CANADIAN inventor Reginald Fessenden made history with the first radio broadcast on December 24, 1906, in Brant Rock, Massachusetts. Fessenden transmitted a speech, a phonograph recording of Handel's *Largo*, a violin solo, and a Bible reading.

Fourteen years later, on May 20, 1920, CANADA's first documented scheduled radio broadcast aired. It featured a concert by soprano Dorothy Lutton on XWA - which later became Montreal’s CFCF - that was clearly heard by an audience at Ottawa’s Chateau Laurier Hotel.

EDMONTON's first radio broadcast took place on May 1, 1922 on CJCA, the first licensed radio station. Founded by the Edmonton Journal, CJCA initially operated with a modest 50-watt Marconi transmitter, airing news, music, and various entertainment. Assisted by a Marconi engineer, a young man named Dick Rice helped put the station on the air and eventually became CJCA's manager.

In 1927, a license was granted to the Christian and Missionary Alliance and on Easter Sunday, April 17, CHMA-AM began broadcasting with 100 watts, SHARING the 580 kHz frequency with other pioneer Edmonton stations.

Imagine sharing a frequency! It was the wild west of radio after all - no CRTC and even Canada’s first governing body focusing specifically on broadcasting, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), was still five years away (1932).

In 1934, Taylor & Pearson Ltd. acquired CHMA. The company had sold its first station, CFCK, to the Department of Extension of the University of Alberta in 1927, which became CKUA.

CHMA was rebranded as CFTP (“TP” for Taylor & Pearson) and secured sole use of the 1260 kHz frequency. Studios were established in the Birks Building on Jasper Avenue. CFTP operated daily except Sundays when airtime was allocated to the Christian and Missionary Alliance as part of the acquisition agreement.

By the 1930s, Edmonton had three radio stations, but Jim Taylor & Hugh Pearson’s CFTP faced financial trouble. Dick Rice seized the opportunity and, with his friend Hans Nielsen, a grocer in Coalspur, formed Sunwapta Broadcasting Co. Ltd., raising the $10,000 needed to take over CFTP.

On November 1, 1934, a license was issued with the call letters CFRN (“RN” for Rice & Nielsen). CFRN: "The Sunwapta Broadcasting Company"⁴ signed on the air on November 3.

November 1, 2024, will mark the 90th anniversary of CFRN's creation, and November 3 will be the anniversary of its first broadcast.

Dick Rice chose the word “Sunwapta” because it was the Stoney Indian word for “radiating waves,” referring to the ripples of water that radiate in all directions when stones are dropped in still pools.⁴

"Naming the station Sunwapta, its owners had in mind the station that would grow to be the most picturesque spot of the 'whirling waves' of the radio world."⁴
Edmonton Journal, February 3, 1935

Sunwapta Broadcasting began with a staff of nine: Rice & Nielsen, Dave Hill (chief announcer), Gilbert Seabrooke (announcer, continuity), Susan Agar (on-air hostess), Gordon Williamson (sports announcer), Albert Churchill (music director), Gordon Shillabeer (control engineer), Frank Mackepeace (plant engineer), and Doris Neale (secretary). Sid Lancaster joined CFRN from CKUA.

The extraordinary story of Sunwapta Broadcasting continues to unfold. To everyone who has been part of the Sunwapta family, shaping its history since 1934, Happy 90th Anniversary!

By Paul Preston

with thanks for editing to: Jon Pearkins and John Hanson