Discussions

It was way back on December 1st 1928 when the first sounds of music could be heard by way of the radio waves from Brandon’s first broadcast.  
 
Radio had only been introduced to Canada seven years earlier, and Brandon was one of the first Western Canadian cities to have a radio station be it that only a few citizens had a radio receiver to gather around to listen too.  
 
Before the late 1940’s the radio stations, CKX in Brandon, and CKY in Winnipeg were provincially owned and operated by the Manitoba Telephone system, (M.T.S.).  
 
In 1948 the Western Manitoba Broadcasters lead by Mr. John B. Craig, (a car dealership owner) purchased CKX from the provincial government. At first CKX operated during the noon hour and from 7:00 – 10:00 p.m. nightly.  
 
The first full time broadcaster was Mr. Eric Davies who provided commentary on musical selections, and read the news, weather, and sports. CKX radio was the only station in this area until 1977.  
 
On January 28th 1955 Brandon was introduced to television, Mr. John B. Craig was Director, and his son Stuart operated the camera, sadly few television sets existed in Brandon and so many people had to watch TV’s that were placed in store windows.  
 
CKX is credited with starting the high school quiz program called “Reach for the Top”, which went on to be a successful CBC production.  
 
For almost half a century, the station remained under the ownership of the Craig family who always believed in focusing on local programming and its role in the Brandon community.  
 
This statement is so true today, and is missing from Brandons information services.  
 
Yes Bill Turner does a terrific job, but he is limited to the number of his topics by the one hour format. The Brandon Sun’s ‘What’s On?’ is a wonderful service for featuring headlines for local activities.  
 
We need a show on TV like ‘Brekfast Television’ from ‘the Forks’ every morning on Channell #63.  
 
Note: On December 1, 2004 - Craig Media sells its A-Channel stations to CHUM.  
 
Source: http://www.broadcasting-history.ca/index3.php?url=http%3A//www.broadcasting-history.ca/stations/radio/ckx.html