All three Vancouver daily newspapers put radio stations on the air in March 1922. The last one was CFYC, owned by Victor Odlum, manager of the Vancouver Daily World.
Through circumstances I haven't researched, the license ended up in the hands of the International Bible Students (Jehovah's Witnesses) and operated in Burnaby until it was shut down in 1928.
The World heralded its station on its front page. What seems odd in reading this is the station seemed more a promotion for a company that made radios than anything else (conveniently owned by Odlum). The general brought in Louis Wasmer, an American, who must have been pretty busy that month as he also put KHQ on the air in Seattle in March 1922 (the station moved to Spokane in 1925). Wasmer sold motorcycles and bicycles in Seattle and built several early stations there.
Here are three stories in advance of the first broadcasts. One surprisingly admits there is a second radio station in Vancouver; I suspect it's referring to the Sun's CJCE.
Tuesday, March 21, 1922
FIRST REAL RADIO SERVICE
"WORLD'S" HIGH-POWER STATION READY TO BROADCAST FOR WESTERN CANADA
Receiving Sets for the People Are Now Ready for Distribution Every Home and Office Can Now Enjoy Invention With the Greatest Ease.
Today, The World announces to its readers that it has brought the invention of the age, the radio-telephone, within easy reach of its readers. There is no longer any need of the people of Vancouver, Victoria, Nanaimo nor, indeed, any part of British Columbia feeling that the wireless telephone is a subject which only students of science may play with.
The radio-telephone is here today as an adjunct to every household. Yesterday we were laughing at the transmission of the human voice without wires. Today we are faced with the practical fact that the radiophone is an instrument which has, within the last few months, been brought to a simplicity which marks one of the greatest steps of human progress into the mystic forces which govern this universe of ours.
From an intricate device, only within the reach of scientists with specially developed apparatus under their control, the radiophone has suddenly become an instrument of practical use by every man, woman and child of the human race.
Without undue self-adulation, The World may say in this first announcement of its radio service, that it realized several weeks ago that its readers would very soon wish to have the radiophone at their disposal and every effort was made to secure the services of experts who could bring the people within the range of the invention with the minimum of effort.
And, today, The World brings this invention to its readers in practical form, no longer a toy, nor a laboratory wonder, but a device of such import that it means the solving of the problem of all apes instantaneous communication between human minds without wires.
So great has been the development of the wireless telephone in other parts of the world during the last few months that the bends of the greatest companies controlling means of communication have turned their sole efforts to the use of it as a substitute to the methods in use for the last decade.
Realizing that it was useless erecting a powerful broadcasting station for the people of British Columbia unless arrangements were made to have radio receiving sets in such supply and in such form that they were as easy to operate us the ordinary telephone. The World management set about getting assured supplies of such receivers. To this end it has entered into association with the Trans-Canada Radiovox Company, Ltd., of which Brigadier-General Victor W. Odlum is the head, and this company has arranged to place its receiving sets at the disposal of World readers.
WORLD'S PLANS MATURED
Here, in brief, are the plans which The World has matured:
The erection of a 250-watt broadcasting station, which will have a radius of 2000 miles, equipped with the very latest devices to bring voices and music distinct in every home in British Columbia, including Vancouver lsland cities;
The disposal through the Trans Canada Radiovox Company, Ltd., of a plentiful supply of its receiving sets in three types No. 1, ready for instant use in all houses, to retail in British Columbia for $25.00. This is what is known as a crystal detector set, capable of receiving very clearly from the World high-power broadcaster within a radius of specially adapted set, for amplifying the receipt of voices, music, etc., so that head telephones are unnecessary this will retail at $55.00; No. 3, specially sensitive receiving equipment with vacuum detecting and amplifying tubes, designed, by the Trans-Canada Radiovox Company for use in mining camps, logging concerns, and other commercial enterprises, where constant and easy communication with the city is desired. These sets vary from $150.00 to $240.00, according to the number of amplifiers attached.
SHORTAGE BOGEY ENDED
The tremendous demand, particularly in the United States, for radio-phone receiving sets has unprecedented in any business in great trouble and expense. The World is able to announce that from tomorrow, a constant and ample supply will be on hand for the people of British Columbia.
It was twenty-one years ago that the world awoke one morning, rubbed its eyes, and learned that the Atlantic Ocean had been bridged without wires. So wireless telegraphy, as a science, is comparatively old. Wireless telephony, however, has been perfected since the world war. Already there are at least 700,000 radio receiving outfits in the United States, of which 40,000 are within a hundred miles of New York City; nine months ago there were less than 50,000 such outfits. There are thirty-five broadcasting stations in eighteen different states. While Canada is almost a virgin field—though in the last few months considerable activity has developed—five new broadcasting stations have secured licences, two of them in this city.
Radio-telephony has made possible the voice contact with an audience of thousands and tens of thousands without the necessity of assembling humanity under one roof. It is pre-eminently a home acquisition, bringing to the fireside of the family circle news, music and other attractions. It is just as easy to buy a radio telephone today as it is to purchase a toothbrush, and it is an equally simple matter to use one.
The Daily World’s broadcast will consist of daily news bulletins, sermons, lectures, vocal and instrumental concerts, operas, market reports, shipping news, weather forecasts, fashion tips, agricultural reports, church services and children’s bedtime stories. There will be something of interest for every member of the family. With the horn attachment, or Loud-a-phone, which is supplied for a nominal sum with the Trans-Canada Radiovox Company's receiving equipment, the entire family may enjoy the programme. Radio-telephone parties will become as popular in Vancouver as they are in Seattle and other cities where the new invention has made such headway in the past few months.
Tomorrow, The World will print its first radio programme. For information of any kind, call Seymour 3714.
Wednesday, March 22, 1922
WORLD'S RADIO READY TO AT 2 TOMORROW
The World's radio broadcasting station is being erected today and will be tested out tonight on a 360-metre wave length. A regular programme is announced for tomorrow, commencing at 2 p.m. The present 360-metre broadcast is a temporary one. Announcement will be made in a day or two in regard to a fixed wave length. Electrical radio engineers are at present testing out and installing the new broadcasting equipment and will determine after a few experiments the most suitable wave length to use here in conjunction with the various sizes of receiving sets supplied by the Trans-Canada Radiovox Co., Ltd.
The programme arranged for The World's radio broadcast tomorrow, on a 360-metre wave length, is as follows:
2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.—Digest of latest world news, including stock reports, and latest Vancouver Stock Exchange transactions. Music specially selected for radio transmission.
3 p.m. to 4 p.m.—Latest stock reports and news bulletins and musical programme.
5 p.m. to 7 p.m.—Latest cable, telegraph and Vancouver news bulletins, with musical programme interspersed for the dinner hour.
8 p.m. to 10 p.m.—The World will broadcast all latest news, give musical items, vocal and instrumental selections and other lumbers.
The company has an unlimited supply of equipment. Any person desiring information of any sort should phone Seymour 3714.
Thursday, March 23, 1922
WORLD'S OWN HIGH POWER RADIO BEGINS BROADCASTING TODAY FROM ITS CENTRAL CITY STATION
Plant Erected on Spencer Building When Thoroughly Tested Last Night Under Supervision of Leading Radiophone Expert Proves One of the Best on the Pacific Coast.
NOW ASSURED OF BEST RESULTS
Flood of Enquiries for Receiving Sets Comes in—Large Mining Companies Operating at Remote Points Beg for Quick Installation of Apparatus.
After strenuous effort and a night of the most thorough tests The World begins its broadcasting service today from its high-power radio station on the Spencer Building. The equipment, which Mr. Louis Wasmer, recognized in the United States as one of the foremost experts in the radiophone business, has personally supervised in its erection and tests, has already proved to be one of the finest on the coast. The World has entered the radio field so thoroughly that the management is positive of the very best results.
The World Office has been flooded with inquiries for the receiving sets for homes and offices supplied by the Trans-Canada Radiovox Company. And, more interesting still is the fact that representatives of the large mining companies and firms having branches in the interior, where telegraph connections are difficult and expensive, have been begging for quick installation of powerful receiving sets to assist communication.
World readers are most interested, of course, in the set for the home. The $25.00 crystal detector receiving set, supplied by The Daily World through the Trans-Canada Radiovox Co., Ltd., is guaranteed to pick up The World broadcast for a radius of fifty miles from Vancouver.
It is sold for $25.00 and includes one hundred feet of copper wire, for the aerial, head telephones, and the necessary government licence.
A description of this set follows, and any person who follows the instructions can set the machine up in a short time with ease.
WORLD'S RADIO BROADCAST
The programme arranged for The World’s radio broadcast today, on a 360-metre wave length, is as follows:
2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m.—Digest of latest world news, including stock reports, and latest Vancouver Stock Exchange transactions. Music specially elected for radio transmission.
3 p.m. to 4 p.m.—The latest stock reports and news bulletins and musical programme.
5 p.m. to 7 p.m.—The latest cable, telegraph and Vancouver news bulletins, with musical programme interspersed for the dinner hour.
8 p.m. to 10 p.m.—The World will broadcast all the latest news, give musical items, vocal and instrumental selections and other numbers.