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RCI: Rawhide salutes the shortwave service

Broadcast Date: Feb. 26, 1960

How does a boss find people willing to work at CBC International Service's isolated transmitting station in Sackville, N.B.? The manager tells reporter Larry Lovelace the place is ideal for people who are tired of living. "I meet potential suicide cases who just can't get up the nerve…they figure it's a good compromise," he says. But it's all in jest as CBC Radio funnyman Max Ferguson celebrates the service's 15th anniversary on his show Rawhide.

RCI: Rawhide salutes the shortwave service

• The transmitting station of the International Service is located about five kilometres outside Sackville, N.B., near the border with Nova Scotia in the southeast corner of the province. Sackville is a town of 5,300 people.
• In 2001 there were 23 staff members at the transmitting station in Sackville.
• The site is open for free guided tours in July and August.

• The International Service began broadcasting in 1945 with two 50-kilowatt shortwave transmitters. The towers holding the antennas were up to 115 metres tall.
• The towers, antennas and the network of transmission wires were built to withstand winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour, and a 12-millimetre coating of ice.
• The antennas could be turned in any direction to reach whichever region of the world the service wished to target.

• In 1962, a third 50-kilowatt tower was erected at Sackville and in 1966 the service signed an agreement with the BBC to use some of its transmitting facilities in England to relay shortwave signals originating in Canada.
• Transmission power got a big boost from 1972 to 1977 with a five-year project that saw the installation of five 250-watt transmitters at Sackville.
• In 1972, RCI contracted the West German shortwave service, Deutsche Welle, to relay its signal to Eastern Europe via a facility in Portugal.

• Programming changes came in 1961 as five languages — Danish, Swedish, Norwegian, Italian and Dutch — were eliminated. However, service to Africa in French and English was introduced that year.
• A 1964 article in Time magazine reported that the CBC International Service reached 146 countries.
• The article also said that early that year the federal Department of Finance had proposed cutting the International Service altogether to save $1.8 million. Staff protested and the service stayed.

• In 1966 the CBC Television program Take 30 featured a look at the International Service as it unveiled a new recording of O Canada for broadcast. See host Paul Soles interview German section staffer Eric Koch in 1966.
• As heard in the Take 30 interview, each broadcast from the International Service begins by chiming the four opening notes of O Canada.

• Max Ferguson was a versatile radio host with a long career at CBC Radio. Learn more about Max Ferguson and Rawhide or see other CBC Archives clips featuring Max Ferguson.

RCI: Rawhide salutes the shortwave service

Medium: Radio

Program: Rawhide

Broadcast Date: Feb. 26, 1960

Guest(s):

Host: Max Ferguson

Duration: 19:48

Photo: National Archives of Canada/PA-092375

Last updated:
Dec. 3, 2010