Wireless in Canada

Radio Record, Volume II, Issue 37, 28 March 1929, Page 5

Wireless in Canada

Royal Commission on Broadcasting

HETHER Canada will have a national radio broadcast owned and operated by the Federal Government will be decided after thorough investigation of the whole question by a Royal Commission, the personnel of which was made public recently. The Commission is composed of Sir John Aird, Toronto, chairman; Mr. Charles A. Bowman, editor of the "Otawa Citizens,’ and Mr. Augustin Frigon, director of the Ecole Polytechnique, Montreal. The work of the commission will be to inquire carefully into the relative merits of broadcasting by privatelyowned stations and stations operated by the Federal or Provincial Governments. Not only will the Royal Commission consult with the Federal and Provincial authorities, but it will also visit Great Britain, the United States, and France. The visits abroad will be of brief duration to enable the Royal Commission to report during the next session of the Dominion Parliament. In Canada 60 per cent. of the radio sets in operation are classed as urban, and +40 per cent. rural. There are 68

broadcasting plants licensed by the Minister of Marine. Thirty-two provide an intermittent service of low power and of purely local operation. The Royal Commission will inquire particularly into the following questions :-- (1) The establishment of one or more groups of high-powered broadcasting stations operating as private enterprises, with the receipt of a government subsidy. (2) The establishment and operation of such a system of stations to be owned and financed by the Dominion Government. (3) The establishment and operation of stations by the provincial governments.