Thank you to Ray Robinson and Jeff White for sharing the latest edition of Wavescan for our followers.
Jeff: Most radio stations throughout Canada are allocated callsigns beginning with the letter ‘C’ – CB specifically for stations of the national broadcaster, the CBC, and CF, CH, CI, CJ and CK for various other independent and commercial network affiliates. But there are a few in Newfoundland at the eastern extremity of the nation which unusually have callsigns that begin with the letter ‘V’. Here’s Ray Robinson in Los Angeles to tell us how this came about.
Ray: Thanks, Jeff. To understand this situation, you need to know something of the history of the Canadian Province of Newfoundland and Labrador. In the 1600’s, various claims were made to parts of Newfoundland by Britain and France due to the valuable fishing grounds around its shores, but in the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, at the end of the War of the Spanish Succession, France acknowledged British ownership of the island and ceded complete control. For the next 100+ years the island was subject to rather arbitrary rule by naval commanders, and Labrador also was administered as part of Newfoundland from 1809 onwards. In 1824, London formally recognized Newfoundland and Labrador as a colony, and in 1832 a colonial assembly was established which provided a resident governor and an elective legislature. That was, and still is, referred to as the House of Assembly.
This worked well, although there were religious tensions in the territory, with the two main political parties being the Liberals and the Conservatives. The Liberals base of support came mainly from Irish Catholic immigrants, whereas the base of the Conservatives was the merchant class, and Protestants. Control of the Assembly alternated between the two, but with a prosperous population of 120,000 and self-government largely a reality, in the 1869 General Election, the people voted not to join the new Dominion of Canada. Newfoundland then continued as a colony until 26 September 1907, when it was granted Dominion status, along with New Zealand.
The Great Depression of the early 1930’s hit Newfoundland hard, as prices plunged for fish – its main export. This triggered an economic crash, followed by a political collapse amid profound distrust of the politicians of the time and charges of corruption within the government. The upshot was that in 1934, the people surrendered their dominion status, giving up self-government in return for financial support from London. Newfoundland thus became and remains the only nation that has ever voluntarily relinquished democracy.
A Commission of Government was established with six commissioners appointed by London, who administered the country without elections from 1934 until 1949. After the war, various factions favored either developing closer ties with the United States, joining Canada, or reverting to an independent Dominion. Following intense debate, the people voted in a referendum in 1948 to join Canada, and Newfoundland was formally admitted into the Canadian Confederation in 1949.
Newfoundland’s association with radio goes all the way back to Marconi’s spark gap experiments in 1901, and the reception at St. John’s of a signal sent from Poldhu, Cornwall, England. But the first radio broadcast station in Newfoundland was VOWR, the Voice Of Wesley Radio, owned and operated by the Wesley United Church of Canada. It’s a non-commercial, listener supported station in St. John’s, with studios and offices at 101 Patrick Street.
VOWR first signed on the air on July 20, 1924, just over 100 years ago. Using only 50 watts, its original experimental call sign was 8WMC, which stood for the Wesley Methodist Church. The ITU prefix issued to the Dominion of Newfoundland before its confederation into Canada was ‘VO’, so the experimental 8WMC call was changed to VOWR in 1932. The transmitter has always been on 800 kHz AM omnidirectional, now with 10 kW during the day and 2.5 kW at night. Reverend Joseph G. Joyce started the station to provide a companion to people unable to get to services, but it soon expanded to provide public service programming and entertainment. The format today is described as full service community Christian radio, with content about 30% Christian and 70% secular. Music played includes adult standards from the ‘40’s to the ’70’s, classical, folk, classic country, oldies, marching band and beautiful music. The station is entirely run by a team of over 50 volunteers. Here’s a clip from 1989:
The second station in Newfoundland was VOAR, the ‘Voice of Adventist Radio’, which went on the air from St. John’s in the fall of 1929 with another experimental callsign, 8BSL. This changed a few times, first to 8RA in 1930, VONA (‘Voice Of the North Atlantic’) in 1932, and VOAC (‘Voice Of the Adventist Church’) in 1933. The VOAR call was adopted in 1938, and since 1991 the station broadcast on 1210 kHz AM. But because 1210 is a clear channel frequency reserved for Class A WPHT in Philadelphia, VOAR had to use a directional antenna with unsatisfactory results. Eventually in 2016, the CRTC agreed to permit conversion to 96.7 FM. The station rebranded as Lighthouse FM and began testing on the FM band in December 2018. It formally launched the following month with a format of contemporary Christian programming including talk, teaching and music. The AM transmitter was finally switched off in 2020. The FM transmitter is licensed to Mount Pearl, Newfoundland, now serving the St. John’s metropolitan area with an effective radiated power of 100,000 watts – the maximum for most Canadian FM stations. VOAR is also heard on about 30 other rebroadcasters elsewhere in Newfoundland, and in Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, British Columbia and the Northwest Territories.
But probably the most well-known ‘V’ station in Newfoundland is VOCM, which began broadcasting in 1936. Walter Banks Williams III and his father in the family home at 80 Circular Road in St. John's were very interested in radio. Walter attended training at RCA and at Radio Training Schools in the United States, and he set up a firm called the Atlantic Broadcasting Company. On December 22, 1933, Atlantic was issued a licence by the Newfoundland Post and Telegraph Department to operate a station from the second floor of the family home. The callsign applied for and granted to this new station was VOCM - chosen to mean ‘Voice Of the Common Man’.
And so, with a transmitter and other equipment built by Williams, VOCM began operations as an experimental father-and-son station operating only a few hours a day. The station's antenna was built in the backyard and the technical equipment was placed in a backroom on the main floor. The station first went on the air on October 19, 1936. For the first 13 years, it used the split channel frequency of 1005 kHz, but in 1949 this was changed to the 590 kHz channel it still uses to this day with 20,000 watts. VOCM was truly a family affair for some time; Walter's son, Walter David Williams, later joined him in working long hours at the radio station for many years.
VOCM 590 today is a full-service news/talk and music station playing soft rock and classic hits from the ‘70’s and ‘80s. It is owned by the Stingray Group, which also operates a number of other stations throughout the province, all with callsigns beginning with ‘C’. Many of those carry VOCM news and are branded as the ‘VOCM/Big Land FM Radio Network’. At least half a dozen of them now simulcast VOCM full-time, with the exception of local commercials. These are:
• CFCB 570 in Corner Brook, plus five FM translators,
• CFSX 870 in Stephenville,
• CHCM in Marystown, which converted from 740 AM to 88.3 FM in 2019,
• CKCM 620 in Grand Falls-Windsor,
• CKGA 650 in Gander, and
• CKVO 710 in Clarenville.
CKCM 620 in Grand Falls first went on the air in 1962, and it happens to be the very first transatlantic DX catch of yours truly from England in October 1976. Newfoundland is 3½ hours behind UK time, and this is what CKCM sounded like just before 3 in the morning in Luton, England, 11:26pm Newfoundland time, on Friday 1st October 1976:
I should also mention that immediately following the Second World War, the United States setup bases in Newfoundland and Labrador, accompanied by AFRTS stations which also used VO callsigns. The last of these was VOUS in Argentia, Newfoundland, which closed in the late ‘60’s.
So, now there are just four stations remaining in Newfoundland with VO call signs – VOWR, VOAR-FM, VOCM, and its sister station VOCM-FM. They all broadcast from St. John’s, and all but VOCM-FM predate the confederation into Canada in 1949. VOWR, VOAR-FM and VOCM were all allowed to keep their VO callsigns despite the end of Newfoundland’s special ITU status. VOCM-FM was allowed to adopt the callsign in 1982 because of its corporate association with VOCM.
Interestingly, the call sign prefix ‘VO’ remains in use by radio amateurs in Newfoundland to this day.
Back to you, Jeff.
(Ray Robinson/Jeff white/Wavescan)
