Sponsor (July-Dec 1952)

Raymond Massey I . made 21 recommendations, most of which are being tarried out. In essence they supported the present set-up and rejected the Canadian Assn. of Broadcasters' contention as a "false assumption" that broadcasting in Canada is an industry. "Broadcasting in Canada, in our view, is a public service directed and controlled in the public interest by a body responsible to Parliament," it said. The commission recommended that radio-station men he given the right to appeal to a federal court from a CBC decision, that licenses be extended to five-year periods instead of three, that tlic ( 'IK '|iiil tin local commercial business, that the CBC refuse all commercial programs "not acceptable in content." that CBC income be set by statute for five years instead of annually. It also urged organization of a second French network and extension of French national programs to western Canada. (The subsidiary network will be in operation in the fall. I The following paragraph should be of interest to American sponsors wishing to program in Canada, particularly the second sentence: ". . . Of the more than 170 voluntary organizations which discussed radio broadcasting in our public sessions," the Massey Commission said, "the great majority expressed approval of the national system. . . . We observed indeed a certain alarm at any suggestion of change in the existing system on the ground that it has so far met with tolerable success in combating commercialization and excessive Americanization of Canadian programs." Testifying before the Special Committee on Radio Broadcasting of the House of Commons last November, the "Radio in Canada is in for the brightest future ever — a future that will surpass that of radio in the United States even during its heyday. This predication is based on a single premise: that Canada, with its characteristic alertness and farsightedness, will take advantage of the mistakes made in radio by the United States." HORACE S. SCHWERIN Pres., Schwerin Research Corp. ******** CABs general manager, T. J. Allard. emphasized this point in answering the the Massey Commission : It has "failed to appreciate that broadcasting ... is the most recent form of publishing . . . and is therefore entitled to the same freedom which is accorded to the press as one of the guarantees of public liberty. . . ." He then charged that carrying out all the commission's recommendations — especially continuation of Government control of motion pictures, radio and television — "would combine to place under the executive power of the Government a propaganda machine . . . which would delight any would-be totalitarian." The Winnipeg Free Press commented about the same time: "Admiration and approval of the program of the CBC and its contribution to Canadian life should not blind us to the fact that radio broadcasting has emerged as an important modern phase of the Fourth Estate. A free society cannot forget that it became free only when journalism, the press and publishing won their freedom from state control." And George C. Chandler, owner and manager of CJOR, Vancouver, and a former CAB director, charged in a speech 7 March that freedom of speech is "at the crossroads" in Canada and unless CBC domination of radio is an KJreatest ^how of EDMONTON Gateway to the North — and Alaska . . . Riding the crest of boom-town expansion and prosperity . . . Capital city of ihe fabulously rich province of ALBERTA Home of the World Wheat Kings . . . Championship Livestock . . . The modern Promised Land with work and food for ^rll ^tar J^kow! all . . . Great new industries . Natural Gas and Oil Fields Inexhaustible Tar Sands. IS SERVED FAITHFULLY BY CFRN 5,000 W CANADA Radio Representatives Ltd. 1260 Kc. Timber Tar Sands EDMONTON OIL Grain ALBERTA Livestock U.S.A. Adam J. Young Jr., Inc. Harlan Oakes & Associates Los Angeles & San Francisco 100 SPONSOR