Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting fonds [textual record]
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Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting fonds [textual record]
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Finding aid (Electronic) Finding aid 33-11 is an unverified file list. The finding aid is available as a PDF attached to this record. 33-11 PDF (90: Open)
http://data2.archives.ca/pdf/pdf002/33-11_185_volumes_1-5_open.pdf -
Record information Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting fonds [textual record]
Date:1923-1939Reference:R1074-0-7-E, RG33-14Type of material:Textual materialFound in:Archives / Collections and FondsItem ID number:185Date(s):1923-1939Bilingual equivalent:Place of creation:No place, unknown, or undeterminedExtent:0.5 m of textual recordsLanguage of material:EnglishScope and content:Fonds consists of transcripts of hearings in Ontario, Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and Prince Edward Island; newspaper clippings; publications on broadcasting in foreign countries; correspondence, files on the Jubilee of Confederation Broadcast, 1927; and related material.Provenance:Biography/Administrative history:Canada. Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting : The Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting was mandated by its terms of reference to examine the broadcasting situation in the Dominion of Canada, and to make recommendations to the Government as to the future administration, management, control, and financing thereof. The Commissioners were John Aird, Chairman; Charles Arthur Bowman, and Augustin Frigon. The Secretary was Donald Manson. (Order in Council P.C. 2108, 6 December 1928, on the recommendation of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries. No indication of the authorizing statute is given in the Order in Council).
In 1913, an Act respecting Radiotelegraphy (3-4 Geo. V, c.43, 1913) gave the federal government the power to grant and renew licences for radiotelegraphy but not the power to control broadcasting. By 1928, several radio stations operated by churches and religious groups carried broadcasts that involved the government in a controversy over their programme content. The main controversy centred around the government's decision not to renew the licences, after 31 March 1928, of four radio stations operated by the International Bible Students Association. This was an organization of Jehovah's Witnesses whose broadcasts were, in the words of the Minister of Marine and Fisheries, P.J.A. Cardin, "unpatriotic and abusive of all our churches". As a result, letters, petitions, and deputations demanding a renewal of these licences poured into the Department of Marine. The controversy sparked a debate in the House of Commons which led to the questioning of the entire broadcasting system in Canada. In a speech in the House of Commons, on 31 May 1928, J.S. Woodsworth, Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North Centre, protested the arbitrary action of the government in not renewing the licences. Concerned about the exercise of censorship and freedom of speech, Woodsworth expressed a need for a comprehensive national policy on broadcasting. The controversy forced the government to act. Other issues had to be addressed as well such as the inadequate radio coverage to isolated regions of the country; the tendency of Canadians to listen to American rather than Canadian radio stations; and the interference of Canadian radio stations by those in the United States. With these issues in mind, the Government of Canada appointed a Royal Commission to investigate the broadcasting industry (E.A. Weir, The Struggle for National Broadcasting in Canada, Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1965, pp. 100-103 and F.W. Peers, The Politics of Canadian Broadcasting, 1920- 1951, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1969, pp. 29-34). Hearings of the Commission were held in twenty-five towns and cities in Canada from 17 April to 3 July 1929. The Commissioners also visited New York City and nine cities in Europe. RG33/14 General InventoryAdditional information:General note:The report, dated 11 September 1929 was tabled in the House of Commons on 24 February 1930 as Sessional Paper No. 74, 1930. The report was printed as: Report of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting. Ottawa: King's Printer, 1929, 29 p.
Researchers may view a microfiche copy of this report by consulting finding aid 33-1, Henderson #270.
For more information about royal commissions, researchers should consult: Records of Federal Royal Commissions (RG 33) / James Murray Whalen. -- (General inventory series / Government Archives Division). -- Ottawa : National Archives of Canada, 1990).Source of title:Order in Council PC 2108, 6 December 1928.Accruals:No further accruals are expected.Related material:See also National Archives of Canada, Records of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, RG 41, Vol. 303, file 14-2-1, parts 1 and 2, memoranda concerning broadcasting in Canada; technical aspects of the report of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting; a submission of CKMO and CJOR, Vancouver; and a draft and typescript copies of the commission's report., See also National Archives of Canada, Records of the Department of Marine and Fisheries, RG 42, vols. 1076-1077, files 227-2-2 to 227-11-3 and several unnumbered items, contains records relating to broadcasting in foreign countries, press clippings, records relating to the hearings of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting in various provinces and other documents., See also National Archives of Canada, Charles A. Bowman Papers, MG 30, D79, microfilm reel M-826, correspondence, a report and a pamphlet on radio broadcasting and an annotated copy of the report of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting., See also National Archives of Canada, René Landry Papers, MG30-E-326, vol. 1, a report on the objectives of the Royal Commission on Radio Broadcasting and a statement concerning the recommendations made in the commission's report., See also the related records found in the Visual and Sound Archives Division (VSA), acc. no. 1979-222, which contains an undetermined number of photographs relating to the Royal Commission on Broadcasting., The VSA holdings also include a "Map showing coastal telegraph and coastal telephone stations of the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes area." 1 February 1938. NMC 2963.Source:GovernmentFormer archival reference no.:RG33-14 -
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