British or American?: Canada's ‘mixed’ broadcasting system in the 1930s

Abstract

This article examines the role of independent commercial radio stations in Canada in the early 1930s. Canada's first public broadcaster, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission, was created in 1932. It constructed a national network comprised of its own stations and time leased on many of the previously existing privately owned stations. A number of commercial stations, however, remained independent of all networks. It is argued here that for a brief period these stations were able to provide an alternative model of locally oriented community programming that could be characterized as truly popular.