Public broadcaster of the Dominion of Newfoundland
Not to be confused with the extant private-sector Newfoundland Broadcasting Company Ltd., owner of
CJON-DT
and
CHOZ-FM
.
Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland
Type
| Radio network
,
public broadcaster
|
---|
Country
| |
---|
|
Format
| full service
|
---|
|
Owner
| Dominion of Newfoundland government
|
---|
Key people
| William Fenton Galgay (general manager)
|
---|
|
Launch date
| 1939
|
---|
Closed
| 1949 (operations absorbed into
CBC
)
|
---|
|
Availability
| National
|
---|
The
Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland
(
BCN
) was the government-owned
public radio
service of the
dominion
of
Newfoundland
.
[1]
Following Newfoundland's admission as a province of Canada in 1949, the BCN was absorbed into the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
, and its three main
AM radio
transmitters remain in operation today as
CBC Radio One
stations.
History
[
edit
]
The
radio
service was founded in 1939 by the
Commission of Government
.
[1]
Later that year, it bought the Dominion Broadcasting Company, owner of
VONF
(640 AM) in
St. John's
, from the Avalon Telephone Company, forerunner of
NewTel
.
[1]
Not long after taking control, the corporation acquired two transmitters at
Mount Pearl
that had been built during
World War I
as
Royal Navy
HMS
Wireless Station (BZM) for
North Atlantic
communications with Royal Navy ships. BCN's studios were at the sixth floor of the
Hotel Newfoundland
in St. John's.
[1]
For its entire existence, the BCN's general manager was William Fenton Galgay, who had founded Dominion Broadcasting in 1932 with Joseph Butler.
[1]
Notable broadcasters also included Aubrey MacDonald, known as Aubry Mac, and the musician Robert MacLeod.
BCN accepted advertising on the station whose programming consisted of commercial, educational and entertainment shows. Notable programmes included future
Newfoundland Premier
Joey Smallwood
's
The Barrelman
, which spun information and history with island folklore, and the
Gerald S. Doyle News Bulletin
, which interspersed family and community news about islanders with more serious journalism.
In 1943, the BCN opened a second radio station,
VOWN
in
Corner Brook
and, after the war, acquired
VORG
in
Gander
that had previously been operated by the wartime Canadian military base.
[1]
The BCN provided islanders with news of
World War II
as well as serving as a disseminator of wartime propaganda and as a recruitment tool for the armed forces.
[1]
After the war, the network provided gavel to gavel coverage of the proceedings of the 1946-1948
Newfoundland National Convention
that was elected to determine the future of the dominion. While these broadcasts were closely followed by Newfoundlanders, the loss of advertising revenue from the commercial-free broadcasts hampered BCN's ability to improve its programming.
One of BCN's final acts was to cover the
referendums
of June 3 and July 22, 1948, on the dominion's future.
[1]
As the result was to join
Canadian confederation
, the facilities and staff of the BCN were transferred to the
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
on April 1, 1949, when Newfoundland joined
Canada
.
[1]
VONF was renamed
CBN
, VORG became
CBG
and VOWN became
CBY
.
[1]
Bill Galgay remained as the CBC's Newfoundland regional director until his death in 1966.
All three stations remain in operation as of 2020 as
CBC Radio One
stations. To this day, all Radio One stations in Newfoundland and Labrador essentially operate as a subsystem within the Radio One network; they simulcast most of CBN's programming during Radio One's
local programming
blocks.
A CBC Radio comedy series in the 1990s,
The Great Eastern
, reimagined the BCN as still being in operation as Newfoundland's own independent public broadcaster, and was presented in the format of a
parodic
arts and culture newsmagazine show produced by the BCN.
[2]
Facilities
[
edit
]
HQ - 6th floor
Hotel Newfoundland
1939-1949
Stations
[
edit
]
Shortwave relays
[
edit
]
- VONG
(9.47 MHz, later 9.48 MHz) 1940-?, now defunct
- VONH
(5.98 MHz, later 5.97 MHz) 1940s, became CBNX in 1949, now CKZN
Transmitters
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
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Terrestrial networks
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Digital networks
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Historical networks
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Special services
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Precursors
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People
| |
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