1939: A Sense of Betrayal
Just before the opening of the station in Watrous, Maurice Baudoux reminds the CBC management of its promises. In his reply, the assistant director of CBC/Radio Canada promises that programming at CBC Watrous will include many broadcasts designed to please Francophones in the West. However, six months after the opening in July 1939, the new link in the national network broadcasts almost entirely in English. At CBC, they come up with a new excuse: the vast size of the country. The cost of transmitting programs from Quebec across Canada is prohibitive. People in Saskatchewan do not find the argument convincing. Recorded music is broadcast at Watrous, so why not vocal music in French? Couldn't one of the four daily news bulletins be done in French? In spite of these suggestions, from 1939 to 1940 French programming diminishes rather than increasing. That's enough! The ANO organize a major letter-writing campaign with their 150,000 compatriots in the West.
Archives: Watrous does not serve a bilingual Canada
Letter from Father Maurice Baudoux to Gladstone Murray, July 7, 1939
Letter from Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, to Father Maurice Baudoux, July 13, 1939
Letter from Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, to Father Maurice Baudoux, January 12, 1940
Letter from Father Maurice Baudoux to Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, January 31, 1940
A press release, Mettons les points sur les i (Dotting the I's), March 26, 1941
Berthe Baril, secretary-announcer at Watrous, speaks of French programming on this station in the national network.
Letter from Father Maurice Baudoux to Gladstone Murray, July 7, 1939
Letter from Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, to Father Maurice Baudoux, July 13, 1939
Letter from Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, to Father Maurice Baudoux, January 12, 1940
Letter from Father Maurice Baudoux to Augustin Frigon, assistant director of CBC Radio-Canada, January 31, 1940
A press release, Mettons les points sur les i (Dotting the I's), March 26, 1941
Berthe Baril, secretary-announcer at Watrous, speaks of French programming on this station in the national network.
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