Forget about “talk socks.” This surpasses that by a mile.
 
I’d never seen this before, but I’m grateful somebody thought to preserve it and present it online. It’s a yearbook of CFRB, published all the way back in 1937. Radio was a very different animal in those days and it shows in the pages, with the station celebrating its tenth anniversary at the time, or, as it states on page 8, “The Rogers Radio Station, CFRB in Toronto.”
 
My how times change.
 
There’s a plethora of old pics – which were new back then – of the personalities and the studios, one of which is called the “Crystal Studios.” (Page 14) I’m not sure what that was, but it looks impressive.
 
Among the highlights for me:
 
-An article on “announcing” by no less an expert than Maurice Bodington. Who? In any event, on page 19 of the booklet, he notes with some sanctimony how “announcers today have to do highly specialized jobs – jobs they may not even like doing.”
 
My how times HAVEN’T changed.
 
-An ad for typewriters, with the huge headline, “Dad! I got the job – I’m glad I learned to type!” (Pg. 27)
 
-On page 30, the book runs an ad for a show featuring Dr. Allan Dafoe, the physician who delivered the still famous Dionne Quintuplets. It’s apparently produced out of CFRB and runs on the CBS radio network, showing how people claimed their 15 minutes of fame long before Andy Warhol was born. .
 
-The revelation (to me) on page 51 that CFRB was once the flagship for the Toronto Maple Leafs broadcasts.
 
-And, starting on page 53, a DXer blast-from-the-past, a list of all the Canadian radio stations in existence at the time, along with their power and dial positions. RB itself was at 690 at the time, with Hamilton’s CHML occupying 1010 and a radio station known as CFPL originating not from London but Fredericton, New Brunswick. CKLW was on 1030, CKOC was found at 1120, CKTB called 1200 home, something called CKCL was a Toronto station at 580 and a station known as CRCT was at 840 – an outlet that would later become better known as CBL.
 
-A second list, starting on page 57, shows all the U.S. stations around in 1937, with many recognizable classic call letters not located at their well known present frequencies. (WABC at 860, WLS at 870, WBEN at 900 are just a few examples.)
 
There’s a lot more to see, and you can view it all here.
 
(There are also similar publications for Buffalo’s WBEN from 1946 and WGR from 1947.)
 
If you love radio history, all of these are goldmines.