Material Type

Photograph

Date Range

10 May 1947

Description Level

Item

Physical Description

Black and white photograph postcard

Physical Condition

Excellent

History Biographical

CJOC Radio was founded by John Ender (Jock) Palmer in 1927. On 21 November 1927 Jock Palmer signed a chattel mortgage in the amount of $550 with the firm of G.F. Tull & Ardern Limited, using the radio equipment he purchased as collateral. The radio station first broadcast at only 50 watts from a studio located behind G.F. Tull & Ardern’s offices on the corner of 3 Avenue and 7 Street South. The station’s call letters were derived from Jock Palmer’s nickname. Palmer had taken two partners, Harold Roberston Carson and William Walter Grant, into his broadcasting venture. On 13 August 1928 Jock Palmer and William Grant sold their interests in CJOC to Harold Carson for $100 and $150 respectively. As part of the agreement, Mr. Carson assumed all responsibility for the mortgage signed by Jock Palmer. On 26 November 1928 Harold R. Carson, W.J. Millican and G.H. Millican signed a Memorandum of Association creating Lethbridge Broadcasting Limited, capitalized at $5,000. On 15 January 1930 the shareholders passed amendments to the Memorandum of Association that changed Lethbridge Broadcasting Limited from a public to a private company. Harold R. Carson was a partner in the firm Taylor, Pearson & Carson Limited, founded after World War 1 as an automobile parts business. By 1923 the partners had also formed the Radio Supply Company and operated radio station CFCK in Edmonton. The acquisition of radio station CJOC by Harold Carson in 1928 appears to have been part of Taylor, Pearson & Carson’s expansion into broadcasting across western Canada through the purchase of, or agreements to operate, radio stations from Victoria, British Columbia to Brandon, Manitoba. Harold R. Carson died in 1959, and the same year Taylor, Pearson & Carson became Selkirk Communications. Rogers Broadcasting Limited purchased stations CJOC and CILA from Selkirk Communications in 1989. In 1933, CJOC announcer Henry Viney and technician Bob Buss did one of the first remote hockey broadcasts in Canada. Mr. Viney described the play-by-play over a one-way telephone line from Vegreville while Mr. Buss remained in the studio at Lethbridge. In the fall of 1936 CJOC began “The Radio School of the Air”, the first such program of its kind in Canada. Created as an aid for teachers in classrooms throughout southern Alberta, began “The Radio School of the Air” featured ‘Ports of Call’ on Mondays, “Health Hints and History of People Who Have Helped Mankind’ on Tuesdays, ‘Mother Goose’ stories on Wednesdays, ‘Drama’ produced by Agnes Davidson on Thursdays, and Sing-song Sessions on Fridays. Announcer for the program was Cam Perry, and the engineer in charge of production was Bob Reagh. The station also won the Canadian Association of Broadcasters ‘AM Station of the Year’ award twice. The first time was in 1952 as CJOC led a campaign to raise money for a Boy Scout hall in Lethbridge. The second award was for the stations’ extraordinary public service during the blizzard of 1967. CJOC became the communication hub of southern Alberta during the crisis, relaying messages by radio and keeping the public informed of developments. On 20 November 1955 television station CJLH commenced broadcasting. Jointly owned by CJOC (the CJ in the television station's call letters) and the Lethbridge Herald (the LH), CJLH television was a network affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In 2008, the station is part of Global Television. CJOC expanded its radio operations on 1 April 1979 when CILA-FM began broadcasting. CJOC had acquired the broadcast license of its rival CHEC-FM. On 3 July 1982 the station expanded into the Crowsnest Pass as CJEV commenced service from its studio in Elkford, British Columbia. CJEV was a sub-station of CJOC. The local station supplied about five hours of programming daily while the rest came from CJOC. On 19 January 2000 the Canadian Radio-television Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) approved an application by Rogers Broadcasting Limited to replace CJOC with a new English-language FM station. The new station would replace CJOC's country music format with an adult contemporary music format. Conditions of CRTC approval were that CJOC and the new station could broadcast simultaneously for up to three months, at which time Rogers would surrender the broadcast license of CJOC. CFRV 107.7 FM (The River) was launched, and later in 2000 CJOC went off the air. In 2007 the call letters CJOC were assigned to a new radio station in Lethbridge, 102.1 FM (The Lounge).

Scope and Content

Staff of radio station CJOC on the occasion of the station's 21st anniversary. Bottom row, left to right: John McColl, JohnRussell, Wray Eltom, Lorne McLeod, Harold Gibson, Kenneth Anderson, John Craine, Douglas Card. Second row, left to right: Norman Fisher, Wilma Wismer, Merle Cook, Andrew Thompson. Cameron Perry, Rayma Renfrow, Ann Tessari, Phyllis Rogers, Evelyn Pollock, Kay Ervine, Enid Meston. Top row, left to right: John Stewart, Doray Malmberg, William Guild, Robert Reagh, Russell Guinan.

Access Restrictions

Public Access

Accession No.

20101020002

Collection

Archive

Less detail