Moir chronicles Manitoba radio’s golden age

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This article was published 19/05/2015 (4079 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A new book tells of a time when Manitoba set a precedent in radio communications across North America.

Garry Moir, a Wolseley local who worked in the broadcasting industry for more than 40 years, launched his first book On the Air —The Golden Age of Manitoba Radio with Great Plains Publications on May 12. Upwards of 80 supporters attended Moir’s book launch at McNally Robinson booksellers. The 192-page paperback reveals the rich, revolutionary history of Manitoba radio and the impact it had on society at the time.

“The story I wanted to tell isn’t a book about broadcasters for broadcasters, it’s a book about Manitoba people and how early radio touched absolutely everybody,” Moir said.

He explains how farmers once made decisions on when to sell their crops and livestock based on the markets they heard on the radio and teenagers weighed decisions on what music to buy in the same fashion, by tuning into a radio station.

“There’s one story where someone had been injured and they were taken to the general hospital as they called it, which is now the Health Sciences Centre, and they needed a specific blood type,” Moir said. “They called the radio station CKNY here in Winnipeg, interrupted a hockey broadcast on a Saturday night and got a huge response. They found a blood type and saved a person’s life.”

As the original form of electronic media, radio stole many first feats in its field.  Moir said Manitoba broadcasters were on the cutting edge back in the day and did many things the rest of the country, and in some instances the world, picked up on and celebrated. Inside On the Air, there is a list of the many Manitoba radio “firsts” connected to local stations from 1922 when the first commercial radio station started up until 1972. A couple of major “firsts” listed include: featuring the first female broadcaster in the country — Lillian Shaw in 1923 — and having the first station to play The Beatles in North America.

“There was a disc jockey here in Winnipeg and he played a song from Germany, it was a guy called Tony Sheridan, he was a very popular recording artists in Germany,” Moir said. “This song was called My Bonnie and the backup group was the Silver Beatles, that’s what they called themselves and it was John, Paul and George and a different drummer then.”

While lots of disc jockeys claim to be the first to have played The Beatles, Moir couldn’t find anything earlier than this airing in 1961, which is before anyone had heard of the soon-to-be legendary band. Neil Young’s first recording was captured at a local Winnipeg station along with a Burton Cummings recording before The Guess Who formed, as well.

“It was important to me to write this book because I believe radio pioneers created something really special and it shouldn’t be forgotten,” Moir said.

When he first looked online to find out more about some early Manitoba broadcasters, his searches returned very little. The lack of information inspired him to visit various archives and he eventually stumbled upon a major source — a magazine published regularly by the Manitoba Telephone System, which started the first public radio station in Canada.

Throughout his career, Moir worked for CBC radio, was a correspondent for Maclean’s magazine in the 1980s, occasionally contributing to Time magazine and taught Creative Communications at Red River College. These days he fills in on CBC radio from time to time and does daily history features for CJNU (93.7 FM). On the Air can be found at various bookstores around the province or online through McNally Robinson (1120 Grant Ave.).