Cultural Authority and Canadian Public Broadcasting in the 1930s: Hector Charlesworth and the CRBC

Journal of Canadian Studies, Winter 2008 by Vipond, Mary

The Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC), created as Canada's first public broadcaster in 1932, struggled throughout its short existence to establish its legitimacy and authority as a cultural and social force in a North American environment dominated by entertainment-oriented commercial broadcasting. This study focusses on the views of Hector W. Charlesworth, the chairman of the commission, in order to tease out his vision of the organization's cultural mission. Charlesworth believed it possible to use a modern medium of mass communication like radio to uplift the life of the nation in the Arnoldian sense. While the CRBC failed institutionally by 1936, Charlesworth was successful enough in defining the national and social goals of public service broadcasting that the project was not abandoned but refined and reorganized under the aegis of a new cultural authority, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation.

Créée en 1932 comme la première station radiophonique publique au Canada, la Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC) s'est battue, au cours de sa courte existence, pour établir sa légitimité et son autorité en tant que force sociale et culturelle dans un milieu nord-américain dominé par la diffusion commerciale axée sur le divertissement. S'appuyant sur les opinions d'Hector W. Charlesworth, président de la Commission, cette étude donne sa vision de la mission culturelle de l'organisation. Elle soutient que Charlesworth croyait qu'il était possible d'utiliser un média de communication de masse moderne comme la radio pour élever la vie de la nation au sens arnoldien du terme (Matthew Arnold, 1822-1888, voulait faire connaître « tout ce qui s'était dit et pensé de mieux dans le monde »). Alors que la CRBC fît faillite en 1936, Charlesworth eût assez de succès en définissant les objectifs « sociaux et nationaux » de la diffusion sociale pour que le projet ne soit pas abandonné mais plutôt amélioré et réorganisé sous l'égide d'une nouvelle autorité culturelle, la Société Radio-Canada (CBC).

In late 1935, the North American representative of the BBC (British Broadcasting Corporation) sent his superiors in London a pessimistic report about the Canadian radio sitaation. Felix Greene listed many of the woes of the existing public broadcaster, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC)-its staff was inefficient, its structure was unworkable, and it lacked the support of both the government and, more importantly, the listeners, who spent "the greater part of their time listening to the more virile programs from across the border." He concluded, "In short, the authority of [the CRBC] in Canada is at low ebb. As a force in the life of the community, it is negligible" (1935, 2).

Establishing its authority so that it could become "a force in the life of the community" was the CRBCs greatest challenge from the day of its inception. Created in 1932 within a North American environment of well-established, largely entertainment-oriented commercial radio, the CRBC struggled to find its place as a radio institution, to demonstrate not only that a public broadcaster could be relevant, but also that it deserved to lead the development of radio in Canada. Its failure was perhaps not quite so complete as Greene suggested, but there is little doubt that institutionally the CRBC had foundered by the time he wrote his report, and indeed the purpose of Greene's visit to Ottawa at the time was to offer advice on how to revamp Canadian public broadcasting.

"Authority" is a word much used but not easily defined. Edward Said's definition is elaborate, but emphasizes a top-down orientation: "[Authority] is formed, irradiated, disseminated; it is instrumental, it is persuasive; it has status, it establishes canons of taste and value; it is virtually indistinguishable from certain ideas it dignifies as true, and from traditions, perceptions, and judgments it forms, transmits, reproduces" (1979,19-20). According to Richard Sennett's classic study, however, authority is "not a thing" but rather an "interpretive process" (1980, 19) that provides a bond that must be constantly reaffirmed. It involves, always, a relationship. Max Weber closely links the concept of authority to that of legitimacy: if people accept an authority as legitimate, they will obey it, again and again, voluntarily. Such legitimacy is always fragile, however; it must constantly seek both compliance and consent (Jackman 1993, 120).

These definitions are especially appropriate to a study of authority in the field of broadcasting, because by its very nature broadcasting is an endeavour that requires constant reaffirmation. Each day, the broadcaster must attract an audience anew; in order to do so, the broadcasting body must retain its legitimacy and credibility in the eyes (and/or ears) of audience members (Ang 1991). The task is particularly challenging for public broadcasters, which are often also charged with the task of authoritatively representing and fostering, in some way, the national culture.