Farewell CHLS and CKCD

A look back at various radio stations

Farewell CHLS and CKCD

Postby cart_machine » Wed Aug 07, 2019 3:01 am

The Vancouver Province began the ‘30s with two radio stations. Shortly after the decade was finished, it had none.

There are references on-line to the start-up of the long-forgotten CKCD and CHLS but I haven’t seen anything which stated when they officially signed off. A bit of digging has found the answer. I doubt anyone here is really interested in either station but as a matter of historical record, I’ll post the information.

The Province reported on May 22, 1928 that call-letters CHLS had been assigned for a broadcasting station that would use the newspaper’s studio and transmitter. The new station would feature entertainment while CKCD would be restricted to news only. CHLS signed on the next day for a half-hour featuring (among other programming) a baritone solo by Uncle Billy Hassell, who ran the station.

CHLS was eventually absorbed into CKCD. The Victoria Times reported on April 17, 1933:

CHANGE B.C WAVELENGTHS
Acting on instructions from the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, the following changes in the wavelength of broadcasting stations in British Columbia have been made:
CKCD, Vancouver, changed from 730 Kcys. to 1010 Kcys.
CKMO, Vancouver, changed from 730 Kcys. to 1410 Kcys.
CKFC, Vancouver, changed from 730 Kcys. to 1410 Kcys.
CJOR, Vancouver, no change at present.
CKWX, Vancouver, changed from 730 Kcys. to 1010 Kcys.
CHLS, Vancouver, phantom station, no longer on the air. No phantom licenses will be issued in future.
CFCT, Victoria, changed from 630 Kcys. to 1430 Kcys.
CHWK, Chilliwack, changed from 665 Kcys. to 780 Kcys.
CFJC, Kamloops, no change.
CKOV, Kelowna, no change.
A phantom station is one with separate call letters, but uses the equipment of another station, as in the case of The Vancouver Province station, CHLS.
The call letters of the Canadian Broadcasting Commission station, CNRV, Vancouver, are to be changed to CRCV, and a frequency of 1100 Kcys. instead of 1030 will be used.


This was apparently news to the Vancouver Province. Its story on the matter said CHLS would be moved to 1010.

The final day of programming on CHLS was Saturday, April 15, 1933. The broadcasts were:
8 to 9 p.m.—Uncle Billy’s Collie Club; talk on dogs, 8:50.
9 to 12 p.m.—Sacred choir; Happy Memories orchestra, 9:30; team from Glengarry and soloists, 10; playlet, 11.

CKCD shut off its signal after January 31, 1940. The Province reported that day:

VANCOUVER DAILY PROVINCE RADIO STATION OFF THE AIR
Radio Station CKCD, owned by The Vancouver Daily Province will close down tonight. From this date, The Vancouver Daily Province news broadcasts and other radio services will be heard from Station CJOR.
While the radio services of The Vancouver Daily Province will be fully maintained, and indeed enlarged, through the use of a more powerful station, the necessity for closing down CKCD is deeply regretted. The Vancouver Daily Province was the first newspaper in Canada to provide radio news to the public. It obtained a license and established a station (CKCD) which has been in operation for many years. The Province wished to continue this station and to enlarge its facilities, but the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation took the position that there were too many stations in Vancouver and that some of them should be eliminated.
It was also pointed out that with the readjustment of wave lengths which took place last year, facilities are now available for only two commercial stations of 1000 watts and that in the public interest the Vancouver field should be left to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and two commercial stations CJOR and CKWX. Each of the latter stations has now been licensed to enlarge its facilities to 1000 watts.
Under the friendly pressure of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, The Vancouver Dally Province is closing down its station, CKCD. This is done on the distinct understanding that it is in the public interest to limit the Vancouver field to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the two commercial stations, CJOR and CKWX, and that other stations in Vancouver are to share the fate of CKCD.
As stated, the news broadcasts and other radio services of The Vancouver Daily Province will be fully maintained and enlarged through the facilities of CJOR, which will soon be a station of 1000 watts.


While the Province news moved to ‘OR (which had already been airing Province newscasts), the rest of CKCD’s programming was transferred to CKWX, which shared the 1010 frequency. (CKFC was also taken off the air, and its broadcasts and shortwave transmitter became part of ‘WX).

CKCD normally broadcast during the daytime, but on the final day, it ran only one hour of programming at night.
8:00—News. 8:30—Buster Morgan. 8:15—Farmer Fiddlers. 8:45—Eileen Hayes.

Pat “Buster” Morgan was a cowboy singer, as they were called then, who later appeared on Nabob’s “Harmony House” and was signed to a contract in 1951 by Paramount Pictures. Eileen Hayes was an organist who vanished from the airwaves in early 1942.

cArtie
former employee of now-dead stations.
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Re: Farewell CHLS and CKCD

Postby jon » Wed Aug 07, 2019 8:22 am

Interesting about the existence of CHLS. I've been slowly digging through the seemingly endless string of call letters that existed in Vancouver before the federal government got tough during World War II, and cancelled the last of the shared frequency arrangements. So far, CHLS was one phantom station that I somehow missed.

In 1922, Vancouver had three daily newspapers, and all three had radio stations that signed on that year. The Daily World was bought by the Sun in 1924 and things started to get confusing as The Sun clearly did not want to own two radio stations. One of them eventually found its way into being programmed by the predecessor of the Jehovah's Witnesses. The federal government eventually cancelled all licenses across the country programmed by the Jehovah's Witnesses.
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