1 of 1- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline 
Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
Did you know there was a time when broadcasting in Canada on Sundays was punishable by a fine? And it wasn't that long ago, really. This story was published in 1959! How messed up was this? Was this really the law in this country?
- tdotwriter
- Member
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
I had absolutely no idea this even a thing in broadcasting. I know a lot of places had localized Sunday laws until at least the '90s, but I had no idea any of it had any effect on broadcasting operations. Did radio stations run automated on Sundays so as to be able to continue broadcasting with nobody in the studio? Or were they simply unenforced in later decades for broadcasting? This really is another example of our country's quaint and quirky history.
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
It's a bit dense for anyone who's not a lawyer or trained in legal language, but here's the argument. And no, I still can't believe this was ever a thing, either. It's totally ridiculous. Plus, I'm quite sure Canadian radio and TV stations were on Sundays for years. so what brought this up in the first place?
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. v. Attorney General (Ontario), 1959
And then there's this - even swearing was illegal on a Sunday in Ontario. WTF? Oops! That'll be $25...
- •
Thread Starter- paterson1
- Member
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
I don't think this was ever a thing for broadcasters, only newspapers. Toronto Telegram tried a Sunday paper for four months in 1957. They were threatened but doesn't look like ever fined. The Sunday Telegram shut down because it was losing money according to wiki.
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
paterson1 wrote:
I don't think this was ever a thing for broadcasters, only newspapers. Toronto Telegram tried a Sunday paper for four months in 1957. They were threatened but doesn't look like ever fined. The Sunday Telegram shut down because it was losing money according to wiki.
I aso find it hard to believe because I'm sure radio and TV operated on Sundays, although I wasn't really around in 1957. But how then to explain the original newspaper article, above?
- •
Thread Starter- paterson1
- Member
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
The paper trail would be TV listings or guides from the late 50's. They listed Canadian station programming on Sundays so they must have been broadcasting. I don't understand the article either and why three Toronto papers were charged. I am not aware that the Star and Globe and Mail ever had a Sunday paper in the late 50's, just the Telegram for about four months. I believe it didn't sell well after the first few weeks and advertisers in conservative Toronto didn't take part much. Wonder if Eaton's or Simpsons ever took out ads in the Sunday Telly?? Eaton's may have since they had a bit of a connection to the paper, but Timothy E. would have been spinning in the family tomb!
- mojo55
- Member
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
There were no Sunday cinemas open in Toronto in the 1950s but there was Sunday baseball being played at Maple Leaf Stadium. The games would begin at 2:00PM; however CKEY which carried the radio broadcast was prohibited from beginning the play-by-play with Joe Crysdale & Hal Kelly until 4:00PM so as not to distract people from attending church. Practically all Toronto area radio stations carried church broadcasts at 11:00AM Sundays so that your only option for music at that time was Buffalo's AM 970 WEBR.
- mace
- Member
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
I don't think this was ever a thing for broadcasters, only newspapers. Toronto Telegram tried a Sunday paper for four months in 1957. They were threatened but doesn't look like ever fined. The Sunday Telegram shut down because it was losing money according to wiki.
The first Sunday edition was published March 17, 1957. It was gone by mid July.
- RadioActive
- Moderator
Offline
Re: Imagine Your Weekends If We Still Did This In Broadcasting
The paper trail would be TV listings or guides from the late 50's. They listed Canadian station programming on Sundays so they must have been broadcasting. I don't understand the article either and why three Toronto papers were charged. I am not aware that the Star and Globe and Mail ever had a Sunday paper in the late 50's, just the Telegram for about four months. I believe it didn't sell well after the first few weeks and advertisers in conservative Toronto didn't take part much. Wonder if Eaton's or Simpsons ever took out ads in the Sunday Telly?? Eaton's may have since they had a bit of a connection to the paper, but Timothy E. would have been spinning in the family tomb!
And to further prove Canadian stations were up and running on both radio and TV on Sundays, here are some listings for both from May 26, 1957, the year the article in the first post was referring to. (As an aside, it's worth noting that what you'll see is exactly one day before the much remembered date that CHUM went to an all rock and roll format.)
It still doesn't explain what led to the original charges, given that stations were legally on the air every "Lord's Day," aka Sunday. 
- •
Thread Starter