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Canadians overseas get news from home

Broadcast Date: Nov. 7, 1945

The war is over, but the work isn't. Six months after fighting has ended in Europe, some Canadians are still stationed in Germany. To keep up with the latest news from home, all they need is a shortwave radio tuned to the CBC's International Service. This clip from Service News Roundup tells listeners about a new radar system on Canada's west coast and assures servicewomen that Canada's North is a good place for husband-hunting.

Canadians overseas get news from home

• Broadcasting to the armed forces was the first priority for the International Service. As more Canadians fought overseas and their service time lengthened, they became hungry for news from Canada. "The BBC and the American radio stations did their best," reported the CBC staff magazine in March 1945. "But Canadians wanted Canadian programs; they wanted to hear John Fisher talking about salmon fishing or Montreal or Hamilton; they had gotten used to the way Canadians read the news."

• At the outset, at least 65 per cent of programming on the International Service was tailored to Canadians.
• Programs for the armed forces were designed to inform and comfort them. There were hockey broadcasts, dance band music and CBC network programs such as The Happy Gang.
• Another popular show was On the Front, consisting of dispatches from fighting zones. Soldiers could hear what was happening in other regions of the war.

• Don Fairbairn, a pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force, wrote "a big thank you" to the service. "When the sign-off comes and you play O Canada, we turn the radio up good and loud so that everybody in the countryside can hear it, and we stand up and look at one another sort of sheepishly for a minute until we see that the other guy has tears in his eyes too."

• Programming in more languages was added between 1945 and 1948: Czech, Dutch, Slovak, Swedish, Norwegian, Danish, Spanish and Italian.
• Transmissions to the West Indies, Latin America and the South Pacific (Australia and New Zealand) also began during this time period.
• Another language, Brazilian Portuguese, began when Brazil was added to the list of target countries.
• Between 1945 and 1948 the number of staff jumped from 41 to 185.

• With the war over, the mandate of the International Service shifted to strengthening Canada's international relations and projecting Canada's image abroad.
• "Canada," wrote New World Illustrated magazine in April 1945, "has to make up her mind what to say, and how to say it. She has to tell the world what her plans are for postwar… what is her policy on immigration if people want to come to this country which is being advertised on the air."

Canadians overseas get news from home

Medium: Radio

Program: Service News Roundup

Broadcast Date: Nov. 7, 1945

Announcer: George Powell

Duration: 5:16

Last updated:
Dec. 3, 2010