Canada has played a key role in the development of radio since the media's very invention. Indeed, a little-known Canadian inventor by the name of Reginald Aubrey Fessenden achieved the first successful transmission of a human voice across space on December 23, 1900. Speaking to his assistant over 15 km away from his lab near Boston, Massachusetts, the prodigious inventor said "One, two, three, four. Is it snowing where you are Mr. Thiessen? If so telegraph back and let me know." A telegraph message moments later confirmed that the broadcast had indeed been a success. Six years later, Fessenden was to make the first public radio broadcast to several ships sailing near Boston. In spite of his invention, Fessenden never achieved the recognition he deserved, and his success was largely eclipsed by his Italian rival, Guglielmo Marconi. On December 13, 1901 in a receiving station on Signal Hill overlooking St. John's Harbour in Newfoundland, Marconi successfully received the letter 's' in Morse Code transmitted from Cornwall, England. Unlike Fessenden, Marconi was given a grant from the Canadian government to continue his experiments in Cape Breton, ensuring Canada's important role in furthering the development of radio, especially in the area of news broadcasting. Although we take news on the radio for granted today, one of the most important and far-reaching of Canadian radio achievements is its contribution to news reporting. Events such as the sinking of the Titanic in 1912 had demonstrated the far-reaching potential for radio as an important communication medium, but it was not until World War II that people realised how valuable or popular the technology could be.

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (the CBC) became Canada's national radio station in 1936 with a total of 132 employees. One of its first goals was to improve radio coverage in Canada by building four high-powered radio transmitters in western Canada, Ontario, Quebec and the Maritimes. This network would then be gradually extended: all high-powered stations would be publicly owned, and private stations would act as supplementary outlets. By the end of 1937, two 50,000 watt transmitters had been built, one near Toronto (CBL) and one in Montreal (CBF - French), which increased the amount of the country able to receive radio broadcasts from 49 to 76 percent. By 1939 coverage had increased to over 90 percent. The basic national network had grown to 34 stations, with programming optional on another 26. It was the 1939 Royal Tour, however, that provided Canadian radio with the experience and technology to make its mark in news broadcasting.

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Canada in 1939 was very monarchist, and when King George VI and Queen Elizabeth made their unprecedented tour of Canada (the first time a European monarch had set foot on Canadian soil), the government ensured that the CBC lacked for nothing in order to broadcast the visit. In May of 1939 the CBC used no less than 100 employees just to staff the Royal Tour, including thirteen announcers who were given special training in pronunciation and protocol. Three broadcast teams, two English and one French, leapfrogged the country, covering over 11,000 km during the six-week tour. They produced 91 broadcasts from the first mobile radio vans. At the end of the tour the CBC had enough mobile technical equipment to survive the financial shortage of the coming war years and its staff were confident that they could broadcast events from any location in the field.

Prior to the outbreak of war there had been little need for a CBC news service, as the newspapers had provided adequate news coverage during peacetime. By 1939, however, the growing dissatisfaction with the pace of development of broadcast news led to an agreement between the CBC and The Canadian Press (CP) . The agreement meant that CP would provide its entire news service free of charge to the CBC (thus preventing the radio station from competing with the newspapers for advertising dollars), and in return the CBC would persuade private stations to use CP services. This development, plus the impetus of the Royal Tour and the experience and technology it spawned, was vital in the establishment of a viable wartime broadcast news service. Also instrumental was the fact that, because the United States did not initially enter the war, it was left to Canadians to provide the news from overseas that was relevant to them. Although Canadians enjoyed many of the popular radio shows broadcast from the United States (examples?), the isolationist policies of the United States meant that it was up to the CBC to provide its own news of events taking place in Europe. On December 4, 1939, unbeknownst to CBC officials, R.T. Bowman and Art Holmes, along with a CBC recording van from the Royal Tour, sailed from Halifax aboard The Aquitania to Britain under secret orders to begin the first broadcasts of the war to Canada.

When the CBC found out that it had two war correspondents in London they decided to keep them there until they could decide what to do with them. In the meantime, Bowman and Holmes sent their first broadcast to Canada with the help of the British Broadcasting Corporation (the BBC). The BBC was a constant help to the CBC, providing them with an office and studio in London, and relocating them whenever the office was bombed out. CBC also used the BBC for the transmission of broadcasts to Canada. One of the first shows to be broadcast was "With the Troops in England," that was recorded at the training areas for Canadian troops in the English countryside. The show was a huge hit in Canada, particularly a "Messages Home" section that featured soldiers sending messages to relatives and friends back in Canada. Weekly recordings from these training areas, however, had to be driven into London for broadcast to Canada. This meant that someone (usually Holmes) would enter London in the dark, often during bombing raids, with his headlights reduced to a dim strip because of the blackout, in order to reach the broadcasting office. In 1940 a huge recording van (dubbed "Big Betsy") arrived from Canada which was fitted for field recording and was the most advanced of its time. The BBC, recognising the potential of the technology that they did not yet possess, asked Holmes and Bowman to record the sounds of German aircraft in order to train British aircraft spotters to recognise the sounds of enemy planes. When, in September of that year, the Blitz of London began, Holmes was instrumental in recording the first on-the-spot sounds of the air raids. Putting faith in the reasoning that his chances of being hit were minimal, he would drive out as the air raid sirens sounded and get as close as he dared to the area being bombed to record the sounds. He later put the best of the sounds onto an album and presented it to the BBC. The recording even found its way into the British movie industry and was used for years in the soundtracks for British war films.

Ernie Bushnell, supervisor of programming for the CBC, had also travelled to London where he was able to push through red tape with remarkable agility. He was not only able to get CBC correspondents into France and onto the front lines, but he cleared large amounts of BBC airtime in order that programmes from Canada (including the NHL hockey games and shows like "The Happy Gang") could be enjoyed by Canadian troops in Europe. Recognising his ability, the BBC borrowed Bushnell to help win sympathy for the British cause in the United States, which was still nine months from entering the war. He also played a key role in the development of the first British radio soap opera, "Front Line Family," which premiered in April of 1941. Although all three men went back to Canada to oversee the assembly of more portable radio equipment, Bowman and Holmes were both to return, among other CBC correspondents, to follow the action of Canadian troops during all of their major military campaigns. Bowman was present at Dieppe, although the tank in which he was taking notes never made it onto the beach.

CBC correspondent teams, consisting of one English-speaking and one French-speaking reporter, and one engineer, were to be found wherever Canadians were involved in the fighting. By 1940 there were four CBC vans in Europe, including one that had been specially armoured for use at the front. They sent the first reports from conquered territory in Sicily in 1943. After the capture of the mountain town of Agira, CBC commentators were there to record the playing of the "Retreat" by the Seaforth Highlanders. By 1943 improvements in portable recording equipment meant improved mobility for war correspondents in the field, and teams could edit and produce a complete story, including sound and commentary, right from the van. One team produced one of the best war reports by parking the CBC van on a hill between the guns and their targets and recording the action. Such manoeuvres often meant narrow escapes for the reporters themselves, but their efforts won them accolades both at home and abroad. In 1943 the CBC was presented the most prestigious award possible, the Ohio Award for news coverage.

Because they could not be done directly, broadcasts from the Southern Italian front had to be flown to Algiers and then beamed to London where they were re-recorded. London broadcast the reports to Canada where they were picked up and recorded at three points and then fed over a land line to Toronto or Montreal where the final recording was made to broadcast out to Canadians at home. Broadcasts from the nine CBC corespondents who went ashore on D-Day were even more difficult to get out, and it took an around-the-clock effort in order to get the broadcasts across the Atlantic in the first days of the invasion. They were in constant danger of enemy fire and, although their camps were sometimes bombed and their equipment destroyed, there was no loss of life. CBC correspondents, along with other reporters from around the world, reported battles from the taking of Caen to the liberation of Paris to the eventual push into Germany across the Rhine, and they were there to broadcast the end of the war to joyful Canadians.

In spite of everything that took place overseas, the CBC did not actually have its own official news department until 1941. The CBC had to relied mainly on CP and BBC information spoken by CBC announcers. It was 1940 before they began editing the news themselves. Four regional news bureaux were set up across the country, with a central newsroom in Toronto. All news broadcasts had to follow ten policy directives, which reflected Canadian society of the time. These directives included: "Crime stories, where they have sufficient general interest to be used at all, should be handled with discretion. Remember that they go into the home, and may be heard at unsuitable times," "News should be handled so as not to create alarm," and "No suicide stories - unless about prominent figures; and even these should be very carefully handled." National broadcasts were aired at noon and 11 p.m. (the late broadcast becoming known as "The National", a term still used on the late night television show) while regional news was aired in the morning and early evening. In addition the BBC news was broadcast twice a day, as well as a half-hour BBC radio newsreel in the evening. The first regular news announcer for the CBC was Charles Jennings, followed by Lorne Greene, who became known as "The Voice of Doom" because of his serious tone and deep voice when reading news bulletins. During the war the government asked the CBC to move "The National" from eleven to ten p.m. to save power and fuel for the war effort, and allow war workers to go to bed earlier and be well rested for the next day. It thus became a habit with many Canadian households to listen to the late news and then go to bed. Because of strict censorship regulations many local stations used the national CBC broadcasts. Even local news, which was considered "safe" to broadcast by small stations, were sometimes classified in certain parts of Canada, including weather forecasts, transportation information, and even crop reports.

In 1941 Canada had approximately 2,415,285 families, and there were about 1,558,060 radio receiving sets in their homes (car radios existed but were largely the reserve of the wealthy), making radio a powerful force in affecting popular sentiment during the war years. Not all CBC broadcasts were news, although the news service during the war occupied one of every five broadcast hours on the network. In an effort to sell War Savings Stamps and Victory Bonds to Canadians to help fund the war, a series of broadcasts was aired in 1941 consisting largely of musicals with 'pitches' by famous stars. Many popular American stars sympathetic to the Canadian situation were persuaded to come to Canada to participate in the programs, including Bob Hope, Gracie Fields, Irving Berlin, and Ronald Coleman. One particularly moving radio talk by Dorothy Thompson resulted in over 60,000 requests from listeners for a transcript of her remarks, revealing the extent of listener interest in these shows. Other radio shows were also geared towards the war effort at home, including series with titles like "Carry on Canada," "Talks About Tanks," and "Guns and Ammunition". In Quebec, "Sur le Qui-Vive," a show that featured interviews with troops at the front, was very successful. Programs about war heroes were also popular, especially the large commercial production of "Command Performance," read by Lorne Greene. The show was a tribute to those who had received the Victoria Cross. Canadian war drama was largely the preserve of the CBC, as smaller local stations rarely had the resources or sponsorship to broadcast new drama or major musical programmes. Dramas from the BBC aired on CBC included shows like "Under the Shadow of the Swastika", and other English shows were aired in order to inspire Canadians with the courage and humour of the British. Canadians also enjoyed a wide variety of American entertainment shows, including the comedy of "Amos 'n Andy", soap operas such as "Ma Perkins", and evening entertainment like "Lux Radio Theatre" and the "Carnation Contented Hour".

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On January 1, 1944 the CBC started a second radio network to accommodate the demand for the development of new shows, as well as to incorporate more commercial and popular programs, especially from American programmers. The old CBC network became the Trans Canada network, while the new network was known as the Dominion network. Canadians thus enjoyed the very best of what radio had to offer from within its own borders as well as from the United States and Britain, and the medium grew steadily with new shows, performers, and more money spent on its development. It was not until well after the end of World War II that radio as a medium of popular entertainment was threatened, as television began to encroach into the entertainment market. Although television pictures had been shown in Britain as early as 1926, it was not until the end of the war that the technology could be developed on a larger scale. The advent of television, however, did not signal the end of news broadcasting, which continues to thrive to this day in both radio and television, but it did have a profound effect on the medium that has its roots firmly planted in Canadian soil.