Shortly before the opening of CFRG, CBC/Radio-Canada announced the expansion of its French network to the entire West and its plan to affiliate with the private French stations. It's an unexpected godsend which will enrich the programming of the stations. After four years on the airwaves, the two stations have the following schedule: from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. from Monday to Saturday and from 5 a.m. to 11 a.m. on Sundays. CFRG devotes 58 hours a week to programs from the national network and CFNS 46 hours. A monitoring committee is set up to ensure that the broadcasts respond to the religious and cultural needs of the French-speaking population. A large share of local programming is devoted to broadcasts for young people.
Was French radio not created as a reaction against English radio which was assimilating Francophone youth? Cultural-type programs are considerably developed with the collaboration of Marivonne Kendergi (
audio). Popular music is not excluded from the programming. Marcel Moor, announcer at CFRG, talks about the popularity of western music programs (
audio). Three regional news bulletins were provided to the listeners. Jacques Landry, announcer and then manager at CFNS, describes the popular program
Au fil de l'heure (As the hour goes by), hosted by Marie-Antoinette Papen at CFNS.
Archives: Programming at CFRG and CFNSExcerpts from local programs and the CBC French network
Edited by Francis Marchildon with excerpts from CFRG.
An hour from the past, on the air with CFRG around 1955.
Introduction
Soleil levant (Sunrise) with Marcel Moor: Fathers Roger Ducharme and René Bérubé talk about the 25
th anniversary of the founding of the Diocese of Gravelbourg.
Daily meditation with Father René Bérubé
Series
Enrichissons notre vocabulaire (Let's Improve our Vocabulary)
Daily report from the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool, written by Léon Kendergi
Weekly series by Professor Hervé Mildew
Sports news
Series
Panorama féminin (Women's View)
Two hearts, one waltz: a program of poetry and fine music
Memories of CFRG
Conclusion
Conversation between hosts Guy and Benoît Parizeau, interspersed with excerpts from CFRG.
Excerpts:
Station identification of CFRG around 1955
Excerpt from a speech given in 1971 by Premier Ross Thatcher at Collège Mathieu in Gravelbourg
Series
Vers un meilleur français (Towards Better French)
A program on New Year's Eve 1967 gives an opportunity to the manager of CFRG, Dumont Lepage, to offer his best wishes and congratulations to producer Benoît Lepage.
A network program,
Une fête au village (Party in the Village), produced in Gravelbourg and co-hosted by Gilles Vigneault and Raymond Laplante
Program Une fête au village recorded in Regina in 1961 and hosted by Roland Lelièvre
Marc Nogue, a host with CFRG, called his show Retrouvailles (Homecoming). Its subject is his home village of McCord.
Interview produced in 1967 with a Gravelbourg pioneer, Louis Braconnier.
Memoiries and influences of the CFRG; François Bertrand on
Un homme et son péché Last broadcast of
Au fil de l'heure with Marie-Antionette Papen. It deals with feminism, the role of women and how they can have fulfilling lives, trial marriage, and new trends in married life. Part 1
2
3
Excerpt from
Un homme et son péché(A Man and his sin)
Station identification of CFNS
Roger Gauthier talks about the program
L'oncle Roger. La place des jeunes à la radio. Roger Lavallée takes over from Roger Gauthier in 1967 with the program
Le coin des tout-petits. La place des jeunes à la radio. Marcel Moor talks about his work as announcer on CFRG. The role of news.
Father Roger Ducharme, former member of the monitoring committee for CFRG, talks about the quality of the station's local programs.
Father Roger Ducharme clarifies the role of the monitoring committee, which has long been viewed as a censorship committee.
Guy Pariseau, announcer on CFRG, tells about an artist the monitoring committee did not want on the air
He remembers an incident where the censorship committee intervened.
Under the agreement with CBC, not all programs can be rebroadcast in the West. Jeanne Beauregard, Dumont Lepage's secretary, tells how the management, willing to do anything to satisfy its listeners, resorted to pirating a network program.
Jacques Landry, announcer and then manager at CFRG, talks of the popular program
Au fil de l'heure hosted by Marie-Antionette Papen.
Alexandre Galouchko, CFRG's first engineer, talks of programming in the early days of the station.
Odette Carignan and Raymond Chabot, who were both members of the board of directors of CFRG, recall programs which listeners particularly liked.
Photo of an amateur country music group at the CFNS microphone, 1957. |
Photo of actors in the series La famille Plouffe (The Plouffe Family) in the CFNS studios, October 13, 1956. |
Photo of Félix Leclerc, Raymond Marcotte and Antonio de Margerie. |