Year Born: 1895
Year Died: 1964
Pioneer – Member of CAB Hall of Fame
Stovin, Horace N. (1895-1964)
In 1912 Horace Stovin was an amateur radio operator in Moose Jaw. In 1923 he received a licence to operate a 10 watt radio station in Unity, Saskatchewan at the rear of his drug store with the call letters 10AT. He and his friends erected an 80′ tower built of wooden laths at a cost of $10.00 . In 1924 he received a private station commercial license with the call letters CHSC.
Then in 1929 Horace closed down CHSC and moved to Regina to organize Plainsman Broadcasters and sign a management contract with the Regina Leader-Post newspaper, the owner of CKCK. In the process he crossed paths with Saskatchewan’s most popular radio announcer, Bert Hooper.
In 1933 he was appointed Western Program Director for the newly formed CRBC (Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission) and was responsible for the creation and production of all programs fed to the CRBC network from the studios of stations in cities from Thunder Bay to Victoria. His weekly talent budget was Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00)
He resigned from the CBC in 1940 and formed a station representation firm with C.W.Wright (Wright & Stovin). He became sole owner (Horace N. Stovin & Co.) in 1956. Stovin formed a partnership with W.D.Byles (Radio/TV Director of Young & Rubicam advertising agency), Stovin Byles Ltd., of which Horace was Chairman and Bill, President. The firm survived Stovin’s death in 1964.
Horace Stovin’s great contribution to the development of Canadian radio programming has never been documented. He was posthumously inducted into the CAB Broadcast Hall of Fame in 1984.
Written by J. Lyman Potts – February, 1996