CJNC-AM

CJNC-AM, Winnipeg

Winnipeg Tribune / Closed down

StationYearFreq.PowerOwner/Info
CJNC-AM1923410500Winnipeg Tribune / Closed down
CJNC-AM1922410500Winnipeg Tribune

1922

Founded Winnipeg Tribune, CJNC tried to but did not beat the Free Press on the air.  It started April 20th.  But CJNC had a much stronger and clearer signal at 500 watts than CJCG and the inaugural program was quite an event. Lieutenant Governor Sir James Aikins gave the opening address, followed by a concert of over 200 artists including the Winnipeg Male Voice Choir, the Oratorio Society, soloists May Clarke and W. Davidson Thompson,  as well as the Princess Pat’s regimental band. It  received many compliments from listeners in southern Manitoba as well as Minnesota and North Dakota.   It was after this program that the Tribune crew referred the competition as “the Carlton Street peanut whistle”.

Everyone was caught up in “radio fever”.  The city’s two major theatres, the Capitol and the Allen, installed a receiver and large speakers, and advertised reception  of  stations in Boston, Pittsburg and San Fransisco.  When they couldn’t get distant  signals they ended up tuning in the locals.  Patrons, marveling at the development of electronic transmission of sound by radio, couldn’t understand why the sound wasn’t synchronized with what was on the screen.  “Talking Pictures’ were still seven years away! The theatre promotion lasted only a couple of weeks.

1923

Both Winnipeg stations CJCG and CJNC were losing money and saw no “light at the end of the tunnel”.  The publishers of the two newspapers that owned the stations met with the Commissioner of Telephones for the Province of Manitoba who had expressed the interest of Manitoba Telephone System (MTS) of getting into broadcasting.

After much negotiating with the Federal authorities and changes to legislation the MTS came to an agreement with the current stations who would cease operations and support MTS in  establishing a single radio station in Winnipeg.

CJNCs last broadcast was March 9th, 1923.

SOURCE: “Early Wireless and Radio in Manitoba”  Manitoba Historical Society.

The story continues elsewhere…
Effective September 1st 2019, we will only be adding new material to these station histories in exceptional circumstances. Our intent to chronicle the early days of these radio and television stations has been achieved, and many new sources and technologies, from the CRTC website to Wikipedia, and others, are now regularly providing new information in these areas.

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