“Stand by, everyone! We’re on the air!”
November 1937. CFAR first hit the airwaves 80 years ago at 1,230 kilocycles with a 100-watt transmitter broadcasting from its 120 Main Street location (station founder’s Monty Bridgeman’s Electric Sales and Service outlet).
There was a small control room built into one corner. The station moved to its “on the rock at 75 Callinan Lane” location in 1946 operating with 1,000 watts of radiating power at 590 kilocycles.
The lower frequency allowed the transmitter a reasonable chance of reaching the vastness of the region, though the signal was impeded by the mineral content of the Shield stone. (CFAR now broadcasts at 102.9 FM and 590 AM.)
Even before the arrival of CFAR, it was possible to pick up ‘skips’ (radio signals bounced off the ionosphere). Most early houses sported a variety of pole or roof aerials that would capture distant signals from 50,000-watt clear channel powerhouse transmitters such as WLS Chicago, KSL Salt Lake City, KSTP, St Paul, Minnesota and CBK Watrous, Saskatchewan.
Most console radios had shortwave receivers and on a good night you could pick up Radio Moscow, BBC, CBC International, US Armed Forces Radio and a few stations in South America. But enough of the technical stuff.
Heart of community
CFAR was established as a business enterprise but sustained itself as being the heart of the Flin Flon community and of the scattered northern settlements.
Just a few hours of broadcasting each evening at first. Local talents would sing or play instruments accompanied by a baby grand piano, and people of note would give talks or recitations – all on a volunteer basis.
You could send a message or greeting on air for the nominal fee of 25 cents. 78 rpm records would be played on a gramophone with the sound picked up by a microphone. Rudimentary radio but effective and valued. Improvisation was the key to success.
Indeed, improvisation made it happen in those early days… such as the classic case of 1930s and ’40s “live hockey and baseball broadcasts from ‘distant’ cities” – as related by the late Jimmy Wardle.
The announcer in Flin Flon would ad-lib the play-by-play of a game from, say, Regina or Chicago. There was no radio-telephone link, so the commentary would be based on Morse-code-telegraphed reports brought by a runner (young Maurice Freedman) to CFAR from the CNR telegraph station. The broadcast would include crowd noises played from a sound effects disc, a whistle to simulate a call in play – plus the use of a metal waste basket.
A what? Yes! The announcer would alter his voice and speak into the wastebasket to simulate the sound of the arena announcer. Did it work?
Oh, yes!
How well did it work? Jimmy Wardle did a few of these improv broadcasts and later related going to the Flin Flon Hotel beer parlour whereupon he was asked, “Jimmy! What the hell are you doing here. We thought you were in Regina doing the game!”
Ah, the magic of radio.
People tuned in to their wooden cabinet table and floor model radios or crystal sets to hear the news bulletins from CBC and follow the “Theatre of the Mind” adventures of soap operas and radio dramas, plus the music and comedy programs – all transcribed –
that were circulated to radio stations on 16-inch vinyl plastic discs (15 minutes playtime per side).
Some favourites were Abbott and Costello, Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Groucho Marx and Red Skelton. Drama and comedy shows were also popular, including The Lone Ranger, Lux Family Theatre, Amos ‘n’ Andy, Burns and Allen, Fibber McGee and Molly, Our Miss Brooks and Spike Jones.
Old Ma Perkins and Life Can Be Beautiful were long-running radio soap operas sponsored by Oxydol and Rinso detergent and dish soaps – thus the name “soap operas”*.
As a CBC affiliate station, CFAR broadcast popular shows such as the Happy Gang, Hockey Night In Canada, Wayne and Shuster, Now I Ask You and a young Tommy Hunter.
The CBC programming was picked up ‘off air’ from CBK Watrous and the signal suffered the misfortune of fading out from time to time. Thus the CFAR announcer would have to fill in with a few records until the signal returned.
CFAR also played British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) transcription programs, including the hilarious Goon Show and Take it from Here, thus creating a pocket of British acculturation in this remote northern region.
Memories
Denare Beach resident Myrna Guymer offers this recollection: “My first memories of radio broadcasts were on the taller-than-me cabinet radio, its knobs as big as Gramma’s tea biscuits, at 47 Main St., Flin Flon – my grandparents’ home – where we lived while Dad was serving overseas in the Air Force. Especially poignant for a four-year-old were the grim voices and sounds of war: Lorne Green, Matthew Halton; bombs whistling, exploding; Hitler, Mackenzie King, Churchill and the grimmer faces of my mother and grandparents as they listened.
“But the pleasant memories of CFAR – I was born the same year – include program theme music such as Humouresque and An English Country Garden and The Happy Gang with their familiar knock and “Well, Come Onnnn In.” Boy, do I remember the songs, oldies, and lots of them silly.”
Music, aside from the occasional local performances, was also sourced from the station’s library of 78 rpm discs. The 1950s saw the introduction of long play 33 1/3 and 45 rpm records.
For many years the station’s format offered a segmented programming format – a variety of program titles and music styles in 15-, 30- and 60-minute time blocks. Today it’s all single format digital - and data. Not a record or audiotape in site.
The real heart of CFAR, though, was its dedication to local programming – that is, being The Voice of the North. Programs such as the late afternoon Mailbag allowed listeners from isolated locations to mail in greetings, messages and music requests.
Messages were sent out from the hospitals and in-town visitors would wander up to the station and give greetings live. There would be the occasional guitar-totin’ singer too!
Changing music trends were reflected as mid-50s teens tuned into What’s New? on a Saturday afternoon to hear the latest rock ‘n roll hits. A decade later “Mad Mike” Dow was the ’60s Rock Master with his late evening show.
Beginning in 1937 and for decades, CFAR broadcast the Elks’ Christmas Cheer broadcast with local talent ranging from “Whispering Baritone” Bill Marshall singing “Danny Boy,” church and school choirs, old time fiddlers and singing tiny tots – all under the masterful control of MC Bud Jobin. Thousands of dollars were raised for Christmas hampers and toys.
Now and then, local programs include Meet the Legion, Rotary Radio Bingo, Hapnot High Tells the Town, Thelma Hume’s Kiddie’s Klub, Rev. Ray Horsefield’s Teepee Tiding Cree language program (then the only Cree broadcast in Canada and perhaps the world!), Alice Trudeau’s Club Francais, schoolchildren’s Christmas singing and local drama club productions.
Add live coverage of the Trout and Trapper’s festivals, Bomber hockey, Foster Park ball finals, bonspiel finals, church broadcasts, election coverage, birth and funeral announcements – and
just for fun, Fearless Fosdick’s Fishing Forecast – and you’ll get an idea how CFAR served – and serves – the community.
And 80 years later? Well, the location has changed to Green Street, the technology has changed, the audience has changed and the music and format have changed.
Nevertheless, as current CFAR manager Dianne Russell related, her late father Doug, a former owner of the station, often stated that “CFAR was meant to be the true voice of the community.”
It was – and is. Happy anniversary, CFAR!
*Go to old radio shows websites such as www.archive.org
