page_title: CBC Radio One
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: CBC Radio One / History
context_page_description: CBC Radio One is the English-language news and information radio network of the publicly owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial-free and offers local and national programming. It is available on AM and FM to 98 percent of Canadians and overseas over the Internet, and through mobile apps. CBC Radio One is simulcast across Canada on Bell Satellite TV satellite channels 956 and 969, and Shaw Direct satellite channel 870.
  A modified version of Radio One, with local content replaced by additional airings of national programming, is available on Sirius XM channel 169. It is downlinked to subscribers via SiriusXM Canada and its U.S.-based counterpart, Sirius XM Satellite Radio.
  In 2010, Radio One reached 4.3 million listeners each week. It was the largest radio network in Canada.
context_section_description: CBC Radio began in 1936, and is the oldest branch of the corporation. In 1949, the facilities and staff of the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland were transferred to CBC upon Newfoundland's entry into Canadian Confederation.
  Beginning in 1944, the CBC operated two English-language radio services: the original network became the Trans-Canada Network, and a second network, the Dominion Network, was established with CJBC in Toronto as its flagship. With the exception of CJBC, all 35 stations on the CBC Dominion Network were privately owned affiliates. Its programming tended to be lighter than that of the Trans-Canada Network, carrying more American programming in its schedule. The Dominion Network operated only in the evenings, freeing affiliates to air local programming during the day.
  Until 1958, the CBC was both a broadcaster, and the principal broadcast regulator in Canada. It used this dual role to take most of Canada's clear-channel frequencies on the AM dial.
  In 1962, the Dominion Network was dissolved and within a few years CJBC became a French-language station broadcasting the programming of Radio-Canada.
  In 1960, CBC began running distinct programming on its three existing FM English-language stations, which had been providing simulcasts of programming on its AM stations. The stations, located in Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, broadcast a monoaural FM signal. Programming consisted mostly of classical music. The stations were linked by CN/CP Telecommunications via land-line and microwave. This service was discontinued in 1962, but resumed in 1964 in stereo. Eventually, a national satellite-distributed network of stereo FM stations was established. In 1975, the FM network was called CBC Stereo, and the AM service was designated CBC Radio.
  In the late 1960s and early 1970s, CBC Radio increased its current affairs and documentary content with an initiative known as the "Radio Revolution", using more ambitious, live coverage of news and current affairs including listeners as well as experts. The change began with national shows such as As It Happens. The change spread to CBC regional morning shows which developed three hours of live radio combining "survival information", about news, weather and traffic, with interviews and documentaries about local and national issues. CBC Radio Winnipeg was the first to embrace the format followed by Information Morning in Halifax, a move which increased audience and attracted coverage in Time Magazine.
  CBC Radio stopped running commercials in 1974. Until 1995, the network signed off the air between 1:00 a.m. and 6:00 a.m. daily (5:00 a.m. weekdays on its Toronto flagship station, CBL)– in that year, it launched an overnight program, CBC Radio Overnight, which airs international news and documentary programs.
  In the early 1990s, the CBC began offering selected programs on the Internet. In September 1996, the network formally launched live audio streaming of both CBC Radio and CBC Stereo.
  Since the 1980s, many of the CBC's AM stations moved to FM in response to complaints of poor AM reception. This meant that the old distinction between the AM "Radio" network and the FM "Stereo" network was no longer accurate, even though many of the FM "Radio" stations broadcast in mono only. As a result, in 1997 CBC Radio became CBC Radio One and CBC Stereo became CBC Radio 2 (it is now CBC Music). Although some Radio One stations still broadcast on AM as of 2018, because of issues with urban reception of AM radio signals many of the remaining AM stations have added FM rebroadcasters in major urban centres within their broadcast area.
caption: Radio One logo, 1997–2007.