Remembering Radio

The objective of the remembering radio project is to record and save early memories of radio in the lives of everyday Canadians. The hope is to discover more about the role of radio in the homes and lives of ordinary Canadians from its inception.  This phase of the project is centred on listeners’ memories from the 1930s. Studies of the audience, its members’ opinions, likes and dislikes, program preferences, and the role of Canadian radio are rare.

The information that the listeners from that time period have to share is very valuable to this project. Individuals who have time to spend with an interviewer can help to shed some light on this long neglected area of broadcasting history.

We are looking for Canadians to interview who were born in 1932 or earlier so 78 years old or older to interview about their memories of radio during the 1930s in Canada.  We can conduct the interview by telephone and will assume the costs of the telephone call.  You can set up an interview and a time by talking to someone at 416-736-2100 ext. 33857 or send email to amaclenn@yorku.ca to let us know your phone number.

Prof. Anne MacLennan

This research has been awarded a Social Science and Humanities Research Council grant to interview Canadian listeners.  Please do not hesitate to contact Prof. Anne MacLennan at amaclenn@yorku.ca for the quickest response.  You can also leave messages at 416-736-2100 extension 33857.

The Remembering Radio project is a look at the audience.  American radio networks surveyed their audiences as early as the 1920s and the British made use of radio diaries among other tools.  In Canada, the early radio audience has not been well documented so this is our chance to recover some of the memories of early radio.

More information on research and teaching at:

http://www.yorku.ca/laps/comn/faculty/a_maclennan.html or

http://www.yorku.ca/gradcmct/profiles/faculty/MacLennan.html

French translation of the introduction above is immediately below, but please scroll down for English versions of the profiles of the research assistants on the research team for Remembering Radio.

L’objectif du projet “Souvenirs de la radio” est de recueillir et de sauvegarder les souvenirs de la radio dans la vie quotidienne des Canadiens. L’espoir est d’en découvrir plus sur le rôle de la radio dans les demeures et les vies de Canadiens ‘ordinaires’ depuis les débuts de cette technologie. Cette phase du projet est axée sur les souvenirs des auditeurs des années 1930. Les recherches sur les auditeurs, leurs opinions, leurs goûts, leurs préférences quant aux programmes, et le rôle de la radio canadienne en général sont rares.
L’information que les auditeurs de cette époque ont à partager est d’une extrême importance pour ce projet. Les individus ayant du temps à dédier à une entrevue peuvent aider à mettre en lumière cette dimension négligée de l’histoire de la radiodiffusion.

Nous recherchons des Canadiens nés en 1932 ou avant – donc ayant 78 ans ou plus – afin de les interviewer à propos de leurs souvenirs de la radio durant les années 1930 au Canada. Nous pouvons faire les entrevues par téléphone et assumerons les frais de l’appel téléphonique. Vous pouvez planifier une date et heure d’entrevue en appelant au 416-736-2100 ext. 33857, ou en envoyant un email à amaclenn@yorku.ca pour nous donner votre numéro de téléphone.

Ce projet a obtenu une subvention du Conseil de Recherches en Sciences Humaines du Canada pour interviewer les auditeurs canadiens. SVP n’hésitez pas à contacter Prof. Anne MacLennan à l’adresse suivante: amaclenn@yorku.ca pour une réponse rapide. Vous pouvez également laisser des messages au 416-736-2100 extension 33857.

Le projet “Souvenirs de la radio” est un regard sur les auditeurs. Les chaînes de radio américaines faisaient des études de leurs auditeurs dès les années 1920, et les chaînes d’Angleterre utilisaient des journaux et répertoires, entres autres outils. Au Canada, les auditeurs de radio des premières époques n’ont pas été adéquatement documentés et ceci est notre chance de recueillir certains souvenirs des premiers temps de la radio.

Plus d’informations sur la recherche et l’enseignement de Prof. MacLennan sont disponibles sur:
http://www.yorku.ca/laps/comn/faculty/a_maclennan.html ou
http://www.yorku.ca/gradcmct/profiles/faculty/MacLennan.html

Research Assistant Team

Aidan Moir

Aidan Moir is a fourth year Specialized Honours Communication Studies major at York University. She is completing an honours thesis where she will explore the funding debate of Transit City, a public transportation initiative in the mainstream Toronto press. Her research interests include municipal politics in the news media and nation branding, specifically Canadian branding campaigns in preparation for the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympic Games. She intends to pursue a Master’s degree in Communication Studies. Aidan started work on Remembering Radio in January 2010 and has been working on archival documents, transcriptions, contact calls and interviews. She will continue to be available for interviews in some parts of Toronto and across the country by telephone. She can be contacted at amoir@yorku.ca

Cindy Le

Cindy Le is in her second year of the digital media program at York University. Cindy started working on Remembering Radio on May 2010 and will be working on the project in the 2010-11 year. She has been a contact person with retirement residences, worked on transcriptions and background support with research. She will be available for interviews across the country by telephone.

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Emmanuel Ponce

Sarah Pidgeon

Sarah Pidgeon is a first year Fine Arts student studying in the Honours Film Production program at York. She is incredibly interested in social media, the sense of community that the radio brings, and can’t wait to start on the project. She joined the Remembering Radio team in September 2010 and can be contacted through email at sarah92@yorku.ca

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Rebecca Carvalho is an undergraduate student pursuing a degree in Communication Studies and English Literature. She has been and continues to provide support for the Remembering Radio project through work with archival documents and interviews in the Toronto area over the past summer. She also works on transcriptions and will be available to condust interviews from acros the country by phone. She can be contacted at rebecks@yorku.ca Rebecca started working on Remembering Radio in September 2009.

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Caeleigh Boara

Caeleigh Boara is in her second year of the digital media program at York University.  She provides support to the Remembering Radio project and conducts interviews in the Mississauga area and by telephone.  Caeleigh worked for the Remembering Radio project since September 2009.

Kyle Alan Pocalyuko is a second year Honours Commerce student enrolled at McMaster University specializing in Accounting and Finance. He is providing support to the radio research project by tracking interviews on spreadsheets, working with speech to text, conducting interviews, editing transcripts, and other tasks. Kyle worked on Remembering Radio from May to August 2010 and is back for December 2010.

Lindsay Moore

 

Lindsay Moore is going into third year of an Honours double major program in Communication Studies and Anthropology. A former journalism student with a found interest in the study of media, culture and language, she will be contributing to a professional research undertaking for the first time with this project.

Reid Goobie is a first year Fine Arts student studying in the Honours Cinema and Media Studies program at York University. He loves understanding Canada’s impact and history in media and technology. Reid loves to stay connected with the world through technological means and enjoys researching past, present and future communicational methods. He enjoys seeking out and discovering what creates nostalgia for him and the people around him. His main interest is audio and enjoys working, creating and fixing sound in his environment.

Thanks for your interest in Remembering Radio.

Anne MacLennan

Researchers will come to anyone willing to participate in the project to record their early memories of radio in their homes (mostly if you are nearby) and the programs they preferred. Available times for the researchers to visit for the purpose of interviews in other Canadian cities and the possibilities for phone interviews will be posted on this site.  Our focus for the next few months is to complete as many interviews across Canada as possible.  We will assume the costs of the telephone interviews so if you are able to send your phone number by e-mail or call to leave a message, please do and we will call you back to arrange a convenient time.

Please contact the principal investigator on this project at the address, phone number or e-mail below to record your interview.

Prof. Anne MacLennan,
Department of Communication Studies,

Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies,
TEL Building 3025,
York University,
4700 Keele Street,
Toronto, Ontario
M3J 1P3

Please leave voice mail messages at:
416-736-2100 extension 33857

Or make contact by e-mail at:
amaclenn@yorku.ca

Prof. Anne MacLennan is teaching in the Communication Studies Program at York University. While her teaching ranges from research methods to policy and advertising, the focus of her research is early Canadian radio history. Until this point her research has been centred on the selection of programs available to Canadian listeners. Prof. MacLennan is currently completing a book on the development of radio program schedules during the 1930s when the CRBC and CBC were first established.  The work is based on a strategic random sample of newspaper listings from Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Winnipeg and Vancouver.  The data demonstrates that Canadian programming developed alongside American programming, but with its own local, regional, provincial and national twists.  Now she is turning her attention to what, how and why listeners chose from the radio program listings available.