Canadian Broadcasting Corporation

The roots of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation are to be found in the Canadian National Railways, which in 1929 had developed a chain of radio stations to entertain its passengers.

In 1932, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission was founded to take control of the CNR’s radio stations. In 1936, it became the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, modeled after the UK’s British Broadcasting Corporation.

CBC Television began in September 1952, with the launch of the bilingual CBFT in Montreal and the English-language CBLT in Toronto. Further stations were launched, allowing the CBC to split into two television networks, one in French and one in English. Private television stations were required to affiliate with one of the CBC networks, resulting in a rapid rise in coverage of the huge nation.

This ended when competition arrived with CTV in 1962.