Toronto 1922 vs. Toronto 1932

Sometimes at the odd antiquarian book shop I find an odd antiquarian phone book. Sometimes, those old phone books list off radio stations. Below is an image from Might's Greater Toronto city directory of 1927. This is an interesting as it the CBC wasn't formed until 1936 so radio licensing was still a bit of a wild west as it also was in the U.S.  (Please excuse the bad edit on the 1927 image, I lack the skill set to blend the colors.) You will see a list of 8 call letters above, take note, because when we fast forward to 1932 we the list changes quite a bit. More here and here.

CFCA was the first licensed radio station in Toronto, and was owned by the Toronto Daily Star. The station went on the air in June 1922 and closed permanently in 1933. So that period book ends shortly before the CBC began operating in 1935. 

Back in 1922 the Might's Directory had no radio section in the Business pages. The section jumps directly from Radiators to Rag Dealers and before you ask, no there wasn't a Wireless section either. Likewise the 1923 and 1924 hard cover editions have sections for Radio Equipment and Radio Apparatus and Supplies, but no Radio Stations. The first year with a list is 1925, starting with five radio stations:
 

1925

Band	Call Sign	Owner
CNRT	Canadian National railway	King Edward Hotel
CKCL	Dominion Battery Co.	20 Trinity St.
CHIC	Northern Electric Co.	131 Simcoe St.
CFCA	Toronto Daily Star	Yonge & St. Clair Ave.
CHNC	Toronto Radio Research	Hillcrest Park

All five of these stations continue to exist for at least a couple years. They change frequency, change studio addresses, increase in power but they continue on with the same owners into 1927 when things start to get interesting.

1927

Band	Call Sign	Owner
CFCA	Toronto Daily Star	18 King St. W.
CHIC	Northern Electric Co.	131 Simcoe St.
CJCI	Royal Order of Moose	Confederation Life Bldg
CJYC	Universal Radio of Canada	38 Irwin Ave.
CKCL	Dominion Battery Co.	20 Trinity St.
CKCX	International Bible Students Assoc.	38 Irwin Ave.
CKNC	Canadian National Carbon Co.	Hillcrest Park
CNRT	Canadian National	Railways, King & Toronto

Below is an image from Might's Greater Toronto city directory of 1932.Note that there are only 7 now but of the 7 two refer you to two other stations on the list as the station to use. It took all of 5 seconds to answer why with thanks to the History of Canadian Broadcasting website. [SOURCE] In 1933 the CRBC (Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission) discontinued it's sharing time agreement on 840 between CHNC, CJBC and CPRY. 

So the instruction is most likely just directing the reader to the stronger, more local signal. The connection between CNRT and CFCA is harder to understand, but I found once reference here. CNR Radio, Canada's first radio network, leased time on CFCA operating with the call letters CNRT, until the CNR network disbanded in 1932. This would have been simply a share time in the US but in Canada this is sometimes called a "phantom station." While leasing CFCA's transmitter and frequency, CNRT would broadcast from its own studio located in the King Edward Hotel.  

Radio station 910 CKGW-AM  began operations in 1926 on 910 kHz with 5,000 watts of power, they moved to  to Toronto's King Edward Hotel in 1927, and began sharing time with CFRB and CJBC in 1928. 

In 1930, the Canadian pacific Railway (CPR) applied for licenses to operate radio stations in 11 cities for the express purpose of building a coast-to-coast radio network in order to compete with the CNR Radio service. But the great depression stopped them in their tracks and all that came of it was CPRY, a phantom station sharing time on on CFRB and CKGW.

This Toronto radio listeners guide [SOURCE] shows CHIC operating out of CKNC, but the Might's phone directory cites different addresses which is difficult to reconcile.

CJCI remains mysterious. The Department of Commerce Service Bulletin from October 30th 1926 confirms the call sign but credits it to the Loyal, not Royal Order of Moose operating on 291.1 meters or about 1030 kHz. The correct answer is Loyal, so it's the Toronto phone book that was in error. The Confederation Life Building in which it was located opened in 1883, and the Loyal order of Moose was founded 5 years later in 1888. The Philadelphia Evening Bulletin published a yearbook in 1927 that records the station operating at 100 watts.  There are no records of it existing past 1928.

1932

Band	Call Sign	Owner
CFCA	Toronto Daily Star	Yonge & St. Clair Av West
CFRB	Canadian Radio Corp.	37 Bloor St. W.
CKCL	Dominion Battery Co.	104 University Ave.
CKGW	Gooderham & Worts	4-5 and 15 King Edward Hotel
CKNC	Canadian National Carbon Co.	805 Davenport Rd.
CNRT	Canadian National	Railways, 1 Toronto
CPRY	Royal York Hotel	100 Front Street

The CRBC began leasing Canadian National Carbon Company's CKNC in September of 1933. CKGW moved to 840 kHz, still at 5,000 watts power, but now sharing time with just CNRT. But by 1934 they were on the wrong side of that share, only broadcasting at night. The Canadian Pacific Railway's phantom station CPRY, also broadcast from the crowded timeshare facilities of CKGW. 

It's probably worth mentioning that Gooderham & Worts, the owners of CKGW were distillers. the CBRC would lease the station starting in 1933, and rename it CRCT shutting it down for a time but restarting it in 1936 as CRCY. Gooderham & Worts would merge with Hiram Walner & Sons in 1926. Their buildings remain the heart of the Toronto Distillery District.

CJYC is already gone by 1930, though Wes McKnight later of CKGW, and CFRM started his career there in 1928. But despite the ownership listed in Might's, this station was founded by the IBSA (International Bible Student Association). You'd know them better by the name Jehovah's Witnesses, but that didn't' start until 1931. I'll wrote more about this another time but they sold airtime to the KKK, and attacked other religious denominations. Their license, was not renewed in 1928. Likewise IBSA phantom station CKCX using it's facilities was also no more. More here.

1935

Band	Call Sign	Owner
CFRB	Canadian Radio Corp.	37 Bloor St. W.
CKCL	Dominion Battery Co.	444 University Ave.
CKNC	Canadian National Carbon Co.	805 Davenport Rd.
CRCT	Canadian Radio Broadcasting Co	805 Davenport Rd.

A lot happened in 1935 and the list shrinks down to just 4 radio stations. You can see the directory here. [LINK]  CKNC signed off permanently in October of 1935.  Hector Charlesworth, chairman of the CRBC considered the 100 watt station "useless." But the station remains on this short list at the time it was mostly carrying programming  originally carried by the CRCT. 

The CRBC purchased the Canadian National Railway's radio stations, including Toronto's CNRT and CNRX in March of 1933. It eventually became the CBC station CBY.

But in November of 1936 the CBC was formed. In December of that year the CBC restarted the old CKNC to boost the signal of their Toronto station, CRCT. The call letters for the reborn station were CRCY. The station signed on the air this date at 5:30 p.m. CRCY operated on 1420 kHz with 100 watts of power

While the CPR did manage to build a small network starting with the phantom station CPRY, the purchased their old competitor from 1935 the CNR. That eliminated the need for their fledgling service and CPRY was discontinued in 1935.

Radio Toronto Star

CFCA has unfortunately become a notably over-used acronym. It's the Communications Fraud Control Association, the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, the the Community Fisheries Control Agency, the Central Florida Christian Academy and the Chicago Film Critics Association to name a few. It's a wonder that search engines can unearth anything about the former radio station of the Toronto Star at all. More here.

The Toronto Star is still published today. But their radio station CFCA-AM only existed for 11 years; from 1922 to 1933. It has no connection to the modern FM station 105.3 CFCA, branded as "Kool FM." The two stations are actually are separated by a 16 year gap, and about 68 miles. Waterloo is a Toronto suburb, but only in the way that New Haven, CT is part of the New York City MSA. One of them is the clear center of gravity so to speak.

The first broadcast of CFCA was on June 22, 1922. They were the first, and only radio station in Toronto at that time. CFRB is sometimes inaccurately cited as first. This is inaccurate, though they are certainly the city's oldest continually operating broadcaster. CFRB didn't sign on until 1927.  Just within Toronto proper, they were preceded by CKCE, CKNC, CKCL, CFCT, CJCD, CHCB to name a few. More here and here. Below is a table of the early licensed radio stations in the Toronto area from 1922 through 1928.

CALLS	FREQUENCY	START	Owner
CFCA	400	1922	Toronto Star Newspaper
CKCE	450	1922	Canada Independent Telephone
CJCD	410	1922	T. Eaton Company
CHCB	440	1922	Guglielmo Marconi
CHCZ	420	1922	Globe Printing Co.
CJCN	410	1922	Simons and Agnew & Co.
CJSC	430	1922	Evening Telegram
CHVC	410	1923	Metropolitan Motors
CHNC	840	1924	Toronto Radio Research Society
CKCL	840	1925	Dominion Battery
CNRT	840	1926	Canadian National Railways
CJBC	840	1926	Jarvis St. baptist Church
CHIC	840	1926	Northern Electric Co.
CKNC	580	1928	Canadian National Carbon
CKOW	840	1928	Nestle's Food Co

In Canada the Department of Naval Service regulated broadcasting until July 1st, 1922 when it was transferred to civilian control under the Department of Marine and Fisheries. Only a handful of stations predate CFCA, including the experimental XWA in Montreal and the first batch of 23 license approvals by in April of that year.

So for CFCA most of their competition on the radio band came from the Unites States. Early stations like KYW, WBZ, WJZ, WHK, WTAM, WJY, WLW, KMOX, and WNYC and others were all audible in Canada.  While some of those became official clear channel stations, the reason at the time was the dearth of signal in the radio band, not the relative power of the transmitters. Aristotle was right, Nature abhors a vacuum, or as restated by Rabelais"Natura abhorret vacuum".

It was the owner of the Toronto Daily Star, Joseph E. Atkinson, who was interested in the promotional value of founding CFCA. It would be both the first local station in Toronto, and would make the Star the first newspaper in Canada to found a radio station. More here.

He made arrangements with the Canadian Independent Telephone Company to broadcast a Star sponsored concert over the experimental station 9AH. The Star had been presenting free live concerts for the public. The first broadcast was on on March 28th, 1922 at 8:30 PM. The star coordinated public radio-listening events at the Masonic Temple and at the Christie Street Military Hospital  More here.

In Canada, much like in some Caribbean countries radio ownership rates were low in the early 1920s. In 1928, only 52,500 radio sets were sold in all of Canada. But the explosion in the number of available stations corresponded with an increase in sales.  By 1931, that number had jumped to 173,200 despite the Great Depression. So to bridge that gap,  The Star used a Radio Car which began driving around the city of Toronto in the summer of 1922. They used a PA system to blast CFCA programming from the vehicle. This is eerily similar to Sound System cars in Jamaica starting around 1940 and continuing into the 1970s. More here.

But over time Atkinson failed to invest in new equipment. The station remained at 100 watts while other local station stations surpassed 10,000 watts. It was the height of the depression and Atkinson was reluctant to make that kind of investment. In 1932 the Canadian government passed a law limiting the power of privately owned stations to 100 watts. These conflicts culminated in 1933 and CFCA signed off on September 1st, 1933.

DJ Freedom Fries

In France they're pommes frites.  The same taters in Spanish are patatas bravas. Italians call them patate fritte. In Poland they are placki kartoflane.  In England they call them chips, and the rest of their former colonies call them hot chips, finger chips, steak fries, french fries, and potato wedges to name a few. ...Except in the USA in 2003. That year, freedom fries was a political euphemism for French fries in the United States. For that particular lexicographical misdemeanor we can thank DJ Jerry Agar.

On March 11, 2003 Republican U.S. Representatives Bob Ney and Walter B. Jones directed the three cafeterias serving the House of Representatives to change all references to "French fries" and "French toast" on menus, and replace them with "Freedom fries" and "Freedom toast."  I am sure the head fry cook thought they were kidding the first time they asked.

Our key man here, Jerry Agar isn't even American. He's Canadian and was born in Gilbert Plains, Manitoba actually. Unsurprisingly, he spent his early radio career in Canada. His first gig was in 1973 fresh out of high school at at 730 CKDM-AM. In 1976 he went to 980 CJME-AM in Regina, Saskatchewan to do morning traffic and a midday two hour show. Just a couple years later he went to 880 CKLQ-AM in Brandon, MB for the PD slot at the long-time country music station. More here.

Then his career changed. He married an American woman and was able to emigrate to the USA and begin working in radio stateside. His first US gig was at 1480 WFXW-AM in Geneva, IL (now WSPY) In the mid 1980s he moved over to his first FM station, 96.7 KKSR  (now KZRV) in St. Cloud, MN. In his own recounting, he got fired a lot. So he relocated again for a morning slot in Toledo at soft rock 1470 WLQR-AM. He was fired again and ended up part-time at 107.9 KQQL in Minneapolis. He relocated all the way to Tucson, AZ for a full-time gig at 94.9 KMXZ in 1996, and was fired again.  From there he went to 102.1 WMYU-FM in Sevierville, TN (they did a call swap with 93.1 WWST in 2001)... anyway he was fired again.

It was in January of 2000 that he was hired by 680 WPTF-AM in Raleigh, NC for an afternoon slot. This is where the sliced fried root vegetable hit the fan. It started with a small, local, right-wing publicity stunt. Innocently enough, a Prof. Crystall at UNC-Chapel Hill warned her studnet, Tim Mertes, in an email for  harshly criticizing homosexuals in class. The Professor rightly stated she would not tolerate "racist, sexist and/or hetero sexist comments in class."  Unknown parties shared that email.  Mike Adam, a Heritage Foundation alum, and UNC Wilmington professor and his pal Rep Walter Jones, began milking a politically correct professor for political capital. It became a meme in the war against political correctness.

While it can be excessive, political correctness is just another word for courtesy and politeness. It's the heart of the golden rule, reciprocity, the foundation of civilization. But in a culture war right and wrong are just ideas used to exploit the politically ignorant. Jerry Agar jumped on the story like a hungry DJ with a bad resume. He interviewed student Tim Mertes on air. Rep Jones heard the interview and sent a bitchy press release and a letter to UNC's chancellor.  Agar milked the story from every angle. He even interviewed Neal Rowland, the owner of Cubbies restaurant in Beaufort, NC because he changed his menu to read "Freedom Fries" as well.  Cubbies fared worse than Agar, they are listed as closed on Yelp. More here.

In response most Americans yawned. A 2005 Gallup poll 66% of respondents called it "silly." By 2006 Rep Jones was regretting his escapade, he commented in one interview "I wish it had never happened." The House cafeteria menu was quietly changed back. Nonetheless Jones remains in his 3rd district seat today. In 2004 Agar left for 980 KMBZ-AM in Kansas City, and in 2006 he relocated to Chicago for a morning slot at 890 WLS-AM in Chicago. There he managed to also do an evening show for WABC in New York from studios in Chicago. He did a stint at WGN-AM around then as well.

But Agar tired of our American way of life and the unending French Fry jokes. He moved back to Canada in February 2010. There Agar joined 1010 CFRB-AM in Toronto to host The Jerry Agar Show on weekday mornings. He remains there today, but the Toronto Sun quietly took down his nutty blog in 2014.

The Old Dirt Dobber

In the American slang of the last century "dirt-dobber" meant farmer or an unsophisticated rustic. On CBS the Old Dirt Dobber was Sam Caldwell who had  been on air for over 20 years. His book the Garden Gate was published in 1954. But earlier books like Thru The Garden Gate by The Federated Garden Clubs of Michigan list the Dirt Dobbler as a man named Tom A. Williams. The book Idiot America also refers to Tom Williams as host of the same Gardening Program broadcasting from the studios of 1510 WLAC-AM in Nashvile. It even correctly identifies his announcer as Paul Oliphant.

In 1944 Broadcasting Magazine described the program as airing Monday through Friday,

The program was running on Saturday mornings back in 1946, but was airing daily by 1954. But an Illinois Library trade magazine described "Open the garden gate," by the Old Dirt Dobber airing only on Saturday mornings. This matches the "airing each week" description on his book jacket.

The USDA lists horticulturist Tom A. Williams as being born in 1891. But the 79 year old dirt dobbler in 1983 would have been born in 1906. It seemed likely that Caldwell inherited the program from Williams, but there is little documentation. I confirmed this from a single article in the Sherbrook Telegram Newspaper from January of 1950. The program has been airing for 17 years at that time. That puts it's debut in1933. It was probably one of the first gardening programs anywhere, and it was syndicated all over the country and into Canada across over 100 radio stations..including 1010 CFRB-AM in Toronto.

References to the program seem to peter out in 1958. The original Dirt Dobber, Mr. Williams largely vanished from view in 1950. There is little written about him. From a single reference I know that Williams was big on Irises. From a much later reference I learn that at 79 years old he was still making celebrity appearances at flower shows. That would have been in 1970, a decade after his radio program ended.

Ted Rogers of CFRB

I don't' write much about Canadian radio. I try to narrow my focus to the U.S. History is a many splendored muddy mess. Without a narrow focus there is no cohesion. But Ted did something that mattered everywhere to every radio. So for him I'll bend the rules a little.

When people write about Edward "Ted" Samuel Rogers, they normally follow his name with adjectives like pioneer and visionary. By the age of 11, in the year 1912 he was already broadcasting with a spark gap transmitter. He had one of the very first amateur licenses on Canada. His call sign was 3BP on 300 meters. He was ahead of the curve in every way. In 1921 he successfully transmitted a signal across the Atlantic in an ARRL competition.

In 1922 he builds another radio station 9AH for the Toronto Star the local daily news paper. It later becomes CFCA and is the first commercial radio station in Toronto. Prior to 1925 all broadcasting and receiving required a battery. Ted fixed that. He invented the world's first alternating current radio tube. This was huge. A radio could now be plugged into an ordinary 110v wall outlet.As a side benefit switching from DC to AC eliminates the hum of battery power. Radio audio is significantly clearer.

He founded the Standard Radio Manufacturing Corporation in Toronto and began cranking out AC powered radios. rapidly they became a huge manufacturer and supplier of radios for all of North America.

The next year he followed that up by founding the world's first battery-free radio station CFRB. And CFRB is still on the air today but many people have forgotten that their calls stand for Canada's First Rogers Batteryless. But Ted kept rolling. He was first to develop a power rectifier pentad tube, and the spray-shield tube. In 1931, Rogers was granted the first television license. In the middle of a winning streak he died suddenly of an aneurysm at the age of 39.His son, Ted, Jr. eventually took over Rogers Telecommunications and did right by his dad. Ted Jr. popularized FM radio in Canada, and built a communications empire. While in the U.S he's downplayed in history (Like the Ruskies taking Berlin!) Canada celebrates him. They released a set of stamps commemorating his contributions in 2000. That same year the Gage Publishing Company released a somwhat lionized but good biography. At the University of Toronto the Electrical Engineering Department is named after him. There his reputation verges on folk hero, which in all honestly is closer to the truth.