On April 2, 1922 the Calgary Herald newspaper was issued a license by the Canadian government for radio station CQCA which went on to become CFAC.
Meanwhile, W.W. (Bill) Grant had been experimenting with "radio telephony" in High River, Alberta. He would go on to set up CHBC for the Herald's competitor, The Albertan, and his own CFCN "The Voice of the Prairies."
"Canada's Father of Radio" - W.W. Grant - High River Studio. Retrieved from Museum of the Highwood, Virtual Museum. (Link no longer active). 
Calgary Herald 26 October 1921
Calgary Herald 19 April 1922To mark the 100th anniversary of the CQCA license, RadioWest is honoured to share this historic recording taken from a segment of CFAC's ceremony to mark its power increase from 10,000 to 50,000 watts in late 1970.
The late Jim Kunkel, then the station's Program Manager, provides a brief history of the radio station up to 1970.
https://soundcloud.com/westernbroadcast ... on-history
He took on the programming role in the fall of 1969 and with two other colleagues, the station's manager and music director, traveled 8,000 miles in 18 days around the US checking out the country music programming of stations such as WMAQ in Chicago.
At the conclusion of the trip, the decision to implement the "Town and Country Sound" at CFAC was made in an effort to help it return to its market leading status which was lost in the mid-1960s. CFAC, after CBC Radio established a station in Calgary, had flirted with Top 40 and Talk formats which didn't catch on with local listeners.
Born in northern Ontario, Jim retired from CFAC in 1989 and died on New Year's Eve 2005. He was among the first graduates of Ryerson University's Communications Arts program and started his career in February 1950 at CHAT Radio Medicine Hat, Alberta. Kunkel joined CFAC Radio "The Voice of the Calgary Herald" in 1953 eventually becoming the station's Chief Announcer, before his move to lead the programming department.
Calgary Herald 3 April 1989Today, the station is known as Sportsnet 960 The Fan.
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From the late Tom Konard's Aircheck Factory -
Scott Miller, from around the time of his arrival at CKLW Windsor/Detroit, with the introduction to Canada '79, an Aircheck Factory compilation featuring Canadian stations.
Scott provides a brief history of Canadian radio from the earliest of days in the time of Reginald Fessenden, through to 1050 CHUM Toronto's launch of its Top 40 format.
https://soundcloud.com/westernbroadcast ... a-79-intro
The Canadian-born Fessenden is best known for his pioneering work developing radio technology, including the foundations of AM radio.
"His achievements included the first transmission of speech by radio (1900), and the first two-way radiotelegraphic communication across the Atlantic Ocean (1906). In 1932 he reported that, in late 1906, he also made the first radio broadcast of entertainment and music, although a lack of verifiable details has led to some doubts about this claim."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reginald_Fessenden
Scott Miller is a Nova Scotia born broadcaster who has worked at CKNR Eliot Lake, Ontario; CJME Regina, CHAB Moose Jaw, and CKOM Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Before moving to CFTR Toronto in 1979. That same year Miller moved to CKLW AM/FM Windsor/Detroit for an 11-year stint.
Scott went briefly to WKSG Mount Clemens/Detroit and later WOMC Detroit. Then a nine-year stay at WJMK-FM Chicago starting in 1992.
In 2001, Miller went to WGRV-FM Detroit which became WMGC-FM. The rest of the 2000s were spent at WSRZ-FM Sarasota, Florida; WRLL Chicago, Illinois; WRVR Memphis, Tennessee; and CKCL Vancouver.
He was then at WOLX-FM Madison, Wisconsin, and WKTK-FM Gainesville-Ocala, Florida.
He is currently at Q106.5 in Bangor, Maine - https://q1065.fm/author/scottmiller/
Tom Konard died in August 2021. He assembled an incredible collection of radio airchecks, commercials and jingles.
Konard started out in the mailroom of a Detroit radio station eventually moving to the station's music and public service departments. He began saving airchecks and his collection grew even more as he began mailing blank tapes to engineers around north America asking them to record airchecks of their respective station(s). Leading to Tom's "Around The Dial” service which ran from October 1976 and ended in 1989.
He was a longtime employee of WCFL Chicago, moving to rural Wisconsin in 1981 and in 2006, he retired to Belgium.
We thank Tom for all of his work to preserve radio history.
