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The Influence Of The Radio In The 1920's

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In the 1920’s Canadians were building on a new sense of national identity.
The world suddenly became smaller for many people.
New inventions such as the radio, automobiles and air travel meant that people in the remotest areas of the country were no longer as isolated. People living in isolated rural sections of the country were brought into contact with the cities of the nation.
After the horrors of the war, people were ready to add some joy and simplicity to their lives.
Radio did exist before the 1920’s.
Ask Mr. Copeland how far I should go into context

Radio was an amazing communication device in the 1920’s and it became a feature in any Canadian homes.
Everyone wanted to have a radio, and owning one was a status symbol.
Voices, news, …show more content…
No one at that time had ever done play-by-play of hockey games over the radio before.
Foster Hewitt connected thousands of Canadians to NHL hockey which made him a prominent figure in the 1920’s.
Radio provided inexpensive entertainment in people’s home.
A good radio would cost as much as a car, although many handy individuals could make their own sets, for a few dollars.

The earliest home sets had no tubes, but used a crystal, which was a thin piece of quartz.
Listeners tuned in signal by moving a fine wire called a whisker over the surface of the crystal.
Earphones were often needed because this type of radio was not so loud.
When someone would come over and visit several earphones would be provided.
Families usually gathered around the radio in the evenings, for entertainment.
Also, one would typically take a radio to a picnic for their own enjoyment.
Later, improved and expensive radio sets appeared in the stores.
Many radios were built in wooden cabinets, which made them a bit more expensive.
These radios would also come with speakers instead of earphones and tubes replaced the crystal and …show more content…
While Rogers was the inventor of the first battery less radio, Guglielmo Marconi was the inventor of the first wireless radio in 1919.
He also had set up the first commercial radio station in Montreal.
In 1927, Ted Rogers set up his own radio station in Toronto.
By 1929, 85 small broadcasting stations opened in Canada compared to over 200 in the United States.
Canadian National Railway’s supplied its trains with radio receivers in 1923 so that passengers could be entertained during their journey. Because some station shared air space, problems arose which would cause people to hear to broadcasts at once.
People could tune in to hear the latest news, weather, music, drama programs, sports programs, comedies and entertainment shows.
However, the vast majority of the programs came from the United States.
This would later become a menace to Canadian culture.

In 1928, Prime Minister Bennett feared Canada was losing its cultural distinction so he set the royal commission to look into the broadcasting situation.
The report showed that most programs and advertisements came outside of

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