Broadcast History - April 30

[jon]

In 1956, the Fowler Commission began public hearings. The previous December, the federal government (Louis St. Laurent's Liberals) created a Royal Commission on Broadcasting chaired by Robert Fowler. Its report released on March 15, 1957, only went half way in its recommendations to create a separate regulatory body for broadcasting in Canada. At this point in history, the CBC was both a broadcaster and regulator. It took John Diefenbaker's Conservatives to create a new Broadcasting Act on August 18, 1958, which led to the creation of the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG, the predecessor to the CRTC) that November. On the other hand, the Conservatives watered down Fowler's 20% cap on foreign ownership of broadcasters, to 25%.

In 1999, the University of Winnipeg's CKUW-FM officially signed on at midnight on 95.9 MHz with 450 watts after three days of on-air testing. The campus radio station had been running closed circuit since 1968.

In 2002, Winnipeg's CKSB-FM wins approval for 100KW simulcast transmitters in Regina (88.9 MHz) and Saskatoon (88.7 MHz). CKSB only had to offer 20 minutes per week of local programming! The remainder was the network programming of the CBC's French (Radio-Canada) La Chaine culturelle.



Also in 2002, Toronto's French CBC station, CJBC, wins approval for a Windsor FM rebroadcast transmitter, but it takes more than four years of Industry Canada negotiations by the CBC before it actually signs on with 1450 watts on 103.9 MHz.