1919–1969 · CFCF Montreal (formerly XWA)

Fifty Years of Radio in Canada

The station that was on the air before any network existed, telling its own story

Canadian broadcasting did not begin with a national broadcaster. It began with a Marconi experimental licence in Montreal in 1919 and a station called XWA, later CFCF, sending music across the St Lawrence to whoever had built a set. By the time the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission was created in 1932 and the CBC in 1936, private stations had already been running for more than a decade — selling time, carrying hockey, building the audience the Corporation would inherit. This disc is CFCF telling that story in its own voice, and it is the single most useful surviving artefact about the pre-network dial.

1 recording · Montreal

Flexi-disc issued by CFCF Montreal in 1969 with an anniversary booklet; both sides joined into a single transfer. Recording held by the Internet Archive.