The Swashbucklers: The Story of Canada's Battling Broadcasters

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

In his ninth book on media, veteran CBC broadcaster Knowlton Nash
examines the wars among Canada’s broadcasters. He begins by tracing
the history of private broadcasters back to the radio days of 1919. He
introduces the pioneers of radio, such as Ted Rogers Sr., who
“revolutionized broadcasting by inventing the batteryless radio” and
founded CFRB in Toronto, and Roy Thomson, who started Northern Ontario
radio stations in the early 1930s and became “so frustrated with
Ottawa’s regulations, he moved to the United Kingdom, where he became
a billionaire media owner and member of the House of Lords.” These
early “swashbucklers” were “drawn by the chance to make a fortune
by broadcasting American shows wrapped in Canadian commercials.”

The private broadcasters’ war on government regulations and Canadian
content rules was mostly lost until the late 1950s “when the
Diefenbaker government took away the C.B.C.’s power to regulate the
industry and handed out scores of new private station licences.” Nash
presents the tumultuous history of these media moguls, including their
fights with governments and each other, with great aplomb and
familiarity.

As radio gave way to television, the network to beat remained the CBC.
New combatants entered the fray. Spencer Caldwell founded CTV; Moses
Znaimer, CITY-TV; and Izzy Asper, the Global Television Network. Their
common enemies were the Board of Broadcast Governors, the CRTC, and
themselves. Nash also touches on the superstars these wars
produced—Gordon Sinclair and Greg Clark at CFRB; Jack Webster in
Vancouver; Charles Templeton and Pierre Berton at CKEY. Most went on to
become television personalities.

Today the competition includes other networks, cable, specialty and
satellite television stations, all vying for government approval and
market share. Many of the participants have changed and the stakes are
much higher. This informative and entertaining book provides an
excellent overview of the winners and losers in Canada’s media games.