Canadian National Railway radio network
 |
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| Type | Radio network |
|---|---|
| Country |  Canada |
| Availability | National (along CNR rail line), through stations owned or leased by the network |
| Owner | Canadian National Railway |
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Key people
|
Sir Henry Thornton (CNR President), W.D. Robb (Radio Dept. Head), W.H. Swift, Jr. (Dept. director) |
|
Launch date
|
1923 |
| Dissolved | 1933, assets sold to Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission |
CNR Radio or CN Radio (officially the Canadian National Railways Radio Department) was the first national radio network in North America. It was developed, owned and operated by the Canadian National Railway between 1923 and 1932 to provide entertainment and information for its train passengers. As broadcasts could be received by anyone living in the coverage area of station transmitters, the network provided radio programming to Canadians from the Pacific coast (at Vancouver) to the Atlantic coast (at Halifax).
During its nine-year existence, CNR Radio provided music, sports, information and drama programming to Canadians. Programming was produced in English, French and occasionally in some First Nations languages, and distributed nationwide through the railway's own telegraph lines and through rented airtime on other private radio stations. However, political and competitive pressure forced CNR Radio to close, with many of its assets and personnel migrating to a new government-operated agency, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), which ultimately led to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.
The network's origins were in the establishment by CNR president and chairman Sir Henry Thornton on June 1, 1923 of the CNR Radio Department after the CNR began installing radio sets in their passenger cars and needed stations to provide programming that passengers could listen to along the CNR's various routes, particularly its coast-to-coast transcontinental line. The general public could also receive the broadcasts if they lived in the vicinity of a CNR radio station.
On October 9, 1923, the network made international news when it carried a broadcast of former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George being interviewed by reporters travelling with him on a Montreal to Toronto train. The first regularly scheduled coast-to-coast network program produced by CN Radio was broadcast December 27, 1928. By the end of 1929 there were three hours of national programming a week.
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Wikipedia