In 1942, Canadians voted to allow conscription for military service on the battlefronts of Europe.
At home, they were making do with food and gas rationing, saving their pennies to buy War Savings stamps. The Alaska Highway opened, the Second Victory Loan Campaign was underway and Japanese Canadians were being sent to internment camps.
The programs listed below were broadcast on various Fridays in 1942. The grid is a composite based on the Feb. 13, 1942, CBC Program Schedule for CBL Radio in Toronto, with programs and specials from later in the year added where appropriate.
CBC Classics are those CBC programs that have remained in the Canadian memory due to their popularity, quality and sheer longevity.
The CBC in 1942
Canada was entering its third year at war. The CBC, just five years old, now provided radio service in each of five time zones and in English and French. It produced 35 hours of daily broadcasting for its various networks and aired six hours of acquired commercial programs. Many of these were American programs (mostly music shows and dramas from NBC) but they were being reduced in favour of programs from the BBC. Most shows were 15 minutes long.
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With the attack on Pearl Harbor and the United States entering the war, all of North America — including the CBC — began using daylight time for better co-ordination. Another first: for the first time, women became announcers and booth operators "on an experimental basis."
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Because of the war, 20 per cent of the CBC's broadcasting time was devoted to presenting the news. The CBC's Overseas Program Unit sent home news, sounds recorded in the field and messages from the front, always passing first through the hands of military censors.
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War programs dominated the program schedule, including features, commentaries and special broadcasts from world leaders including Winston Churchill, Franklin Roosevelt, Madame Chiang Kai-Shek and Canada's own Prime Minister Mackenzie King.
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In addition to news, the CBC saw its role as communicating messages from the government and fostering morale on the home front. It was a major player in fundraising efforts for the Red Cross, the War Savings and Victory Bond campaigns. Dramatized programs focused on describing — always favourably — the roles of Canadians in the armed forces, home defence and wartime production. Some — like Carry On, Canada — were produced in cooperation with the government, while others were made with members of the Armed Forces.
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"I'm on leave in London and having a grand time. Letters and parcels received OK Keep your chin up, Mom!" Weekend listeners in 1942 could hear nine programs featuring messages from Canadians on active service overseas. They included Greetings from the Beaver Club, Khaki Scrapbook, and Gentlemen with Wings. These programs were ended in October 1942. Too many Canadians were serving, and dying, abroad.
Personal messages and community information were also shipped to Britain for retransmission on the BBC to Canadian troops there. On the home front, Canada had opened her arms to children from Britain, and pilot trainees from across the Commonwealth, so the CBC created programs for them too.
LINKS
Topic from Les Archives de Radio-Canada on the same subject
CBC Classics are those CBC programs that have remained in the Canadian memory due to their popularity, quality and sheer longevity.
