Nothing On But the Radio: A Look Back at Radio in Canada and How It Changed the World

Julie Rekai Rickerd is a Toronto-based broadcaster and public-relations
consultant.

In our world of satellites and instant global information, we often
forget that not too long ago radio was the “voice of the masses” and
the sole source of entertainment and news for public consumption.

Author Gil Murray, who began performing on radio in the early 1930s,
worked at The Toronto Star for 10 years, and then joined radio station
CFRB in Toronto, takes an insider’s look at the evolution of radio and
its development into today’s multi-million-dollar industry. He
explains how radio broadcasts began as recorded music with brief
announcements. Programming then was dominated by U.S. comedy shows like
Amos ’n Andy and mystery series like The Green Hornet. He reminisces
about the celebrity half-hour network shows fronted by emerging stars
such as Bing Crosby, Bob Hope, and Jack Benny. Hour-long dramas and soap
operas were also the rage.

Canadian radio content did not come into its own until World War II,
despite the founding of the CBC radio network in 1930. It was then that
Lorne Green, the Voice of Doom, brought the war into the homes of
Canadians. Canadian celebrities soon emerged: Gordon Sinclair, Claire
Wallace, Wally Crouter, Giselle MacKenzie, Foster Hewitt, among others.

Murray also describes the business players of broadcasting, including
Ted Rogers Sr. and his brother Elsworth (who founded CFRB in 1927 after
the former had invented the power vacuum tube, which allowed radios to
be plugged into any electrical wall outlet instead of using batteries),
Sir Clifford Sifton, Jack Kent Cooke, and Roy Thomson (later Lord
Thomson of Fleet). News coverage led to political coverage, although it
took a while for politicians to accept the usefulness of media and allow
the setting up of press galleries at the seat of all three levels of
government.

Murray’s extensive background as a print and electronic journalist as
well as his interest in the medium allows him to delve into both the
technical and programming aspects of radio since its inception. Despite
the onslaught of television, radio survives. Its history in Canada, as
told in this book, is well worth reading and remembering.