Imagine Please: Early Radio Broadcasting in British Columbia

Within two or three years of the first radio broadcasts in North America, British Columbians were listening to local radio stations. During 1922, the first year of British Columbia broadcasting, seven stations were licensed in the province. In three decades, broadcasting grew from a popular hobby to an established industry. Many broadcasters of that period are still alive, and researchers have been able to record personal reminiscences of some of the earliest days of Canadian broadcasting.Imagine Please focuses on the development of private and public broadcasting in British Columbia, revealed through the tape-recordings of the people who made that history. It also draws on other reference material-government documents, city directories, newspapers and unpublished manuscripts. The main sources, however, are the broadcasters themselves. This book also reflects the goal of the Provincial Archives of British Columbia to collect, preserve and make available for research the historical records of broadcasting, both private and public, in British Columbia.Imagine Please takes its title from a dramatic series produced by Fletcher Markle for CKWX in 1940 and 1941. It underscores one of the main themes of this book—that before the coming of television, radio broadcasting was a vehicle of imagination as well as information.—Derek Reimer