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CBC Radio crosses Canada by car!

Broadcast Date: June 29, 1960

"Trans-Canada by Car. Listen Nightly to Reports on CBC Radio," are words emblazoned on the sides of a new white Chevrolet Impala sedan. Three CBC Radio staffers — Ron Hunka, Doug Brophy, and technician Ken Frost — pack up their gear and prepare to drive across the country. From June 28 to July 28 they make 23 broadcasts from 23 towns, reporting on festivals, tourist attractions and, most importantly, the condition of the still-incomplete Trans-Canada Highway. In this episode, the second of the series, Hunka and Brophy report from Gander, Nfld.

The two hosts interview a whaler in Chapel Arm and talk to Oban, Scotland via a maintenance circuit at the Eastern Telephone and Telegraph Cable Company in Clarenville. Not bad for one day!
But another important task in each episode is to advertise the Chevrolet they're driving. In 1960, CBC Radio still carries commercial advertisements, and General Motors of Canada is the exclusive sponsor of the Trans-Canada by Car series.
Note: Find seven more Trans-Canada episodes in the Additional Clip section of this topic.

CBC Radio crosses Canada by car!

• Provided by G.M., the Chevrolet was fitted with heavy-duty shocks and springs for getting over unfinished roads and an oversized battery for powering the CBC's Magnecorder tape-editing machine.
• The men carried a letter of greetings from the mayor of St. John's to the mayor of Victoria. They also brought a flask of Atlantic Ocean water across, which was also given to Victoria Mayor Percy Scurrah.
• As they crossed each time zone, Frost, Hunka and Brophy had to begin each day an hour earlier.

• When planning Brophy and Hunka's schedule, the producer neglected to factor in Montreal's rush-hour traffic. The three men arrived at the CBC/Radio-Canada studios in Montreal 15 minutes before airtime.
• Because the Rogers Pass portion of the highway wasn't completed yet, the group split in two for part of the drive through British Columbia. Hunka and the portable recorder took the Rogers Pass route in a jeep which was piloted by a department of highways engineer. Frost and Brophy took the Chevy over the Big Bend Highway.

• The men returned the Chevy to a designated dealer in Victoria. General Motors offered to sell one of them the car at a very cheap rate. Neither Hunka nor Frost needed a new car. Brophy did. However, Brophy was from St. John's. The cost of shipping the car back to Newfoundland was too expensive — and he wasn't about to drive it all the way back!
• Commercials on CBC Radio were phased out between September 1974 and March 1975. The first completely advertisement-free day was April 1, 1975.

• Thomas Wilby and Jack Haney made the first ever cross-Canada road trip in 1912. They drove their four-cylinder Reo 5-passenger touring car from Halifax to Victoria in a little less than two months.
• The car had to be shipped by rail from North Bay to Sudbury and by tugboat through part of Lake Huron from Cutler to Blind River. The car also went by rail from Kenora, Ont., to Selkirk, Man. Portions of British Columbia were travelled by freight car, ferry, boat and driving along railway ties.

• Wilby and Haney began their journey on August 27. On September 4, Haney wrote in his journal: "The roads were rotten most of the way [from Montreal to Ottawa]. When there was any road, it was a toll. I am heartily sick of my companion and will be mighty glad when the trip is over..."
• In 1997, Lorne Findlay, an automobile historian, re-enacted Wilby and Haney's trip in his own 1912 Reo car.

• It was 1946 before somebody was able to cross Canada by car without having to drive on railway tracks. The trip took Brigadier R.A. Macfarlane and Ken McGillivray nine days.
• For their effort, the men received the Albert E. Todd medal.
• Mayor Todd of Victoria had offered the medal in 1912 to promote trans-Canada motor travel. It was 34 years before the prize was claimed.

CBC Radio crosses Canada by car!

Medium: Radio

Program: CBC Radio News Special

Broadcast Date: June 29, 1960

Guest(s): Mr. Clayton

Reporter: Doug Brophy, Ron Hunka

Duration: 8:16

Photo: Mark O'Neil

Last updated:
Aug. 30, 2004