Talk:CFAC

Question whether the station ever really was "CQCA"

Numerous accounts state that when the Calgary Herald radio station debuted in early May 1922 it had the call letters "CQCA", which a week later changed to CHCQ. However, after reviewing the (somewhat limited) available information, I don't believe this is correct, and the station was actually was CHCQ from the start, with "CQCA" the result of a one-time mistaken identification.

As far as I can tell, there is only a single example when the call letters were said to be CQCA, and every subsequent report can be traced back to this sole, and, in my view, erroneous, reference. (A similar thing later happened with CFAC, as one of the earliest references to it listed its call sign as "C.A.F.C." ("Mayor Adams and Frank Freeze, President of the Board of Trade, Will Open New Radio Station". Calgary Daily Herald, August 26, 1922, page 7).)

The earliest reference to the Herald station that I am aware of was on April 25, 1922, in a list of recently approval broadcasting stations licences, which includes an entry for Calgary for "Herald, 400 metres, CHCQ" ("Broadcasting Stations" (Winnipeg Evening Tribune, April 25, 1922, page 5). The only time I am aware of that the call letters CQCA are mentioned occurred a week later, in an article in the May 2, 1922 issue of the Calgary Herald, which states that during a test transmission the announcer said: "'Hullo! Hullo! Hullo! Hullo! This is the Herald radio station C.Q.C.A, C.Q.C.A, C.Q.C.A. Margaret King of the Palace orchestra, will now sing 'Kiss Me Again.'" ("First Broadcasting Tests on the Herald Radio Phone Provide Agreeable Results", Calgary Daily Herald, May 2, 1922, page 1).

Given the similarity between "CHCQ" and "CQCA", I suspect that the call letters were either misidentified or misheard by the reporter. Moreover, I can't find evidence of any other Canadian station having a call sign starting with "CQ".

Some later accounts state that station's call letters became CHCQ "a week later" or "on May 9. 1922". However, five days prior to May 9, an article in the May 4th issue of the Herald lists the station call letters as CHCQ. ("Another Concert Broadcasted by the Herald Radio", Calgary Herald, May 4, 1922, page 17.)

So, to recap, on both April 25 and May 4 the station's call letters are listed as CHCQ, and I strongly suspect that the single reference to CQCA on May 2 was in error, and the station during this time period was always CHCQ. Thomas H. White (talk) 13:18, 13 October 2019 (UTC)

CHCQ and CFAC appear to have been two separate, although closely linked, stations

Most historical reviews of CFAC state that the station changed its call sign from the original CHCQ to CFAC on August 29, 1922. However, according to my research both CHCQ and CFAC were first licensed in April 1922 with separate owners, and August 29, 1922 is actually the date when the Calgary Herald began operating CFAC in addition to CHCQ. Moreover, through the following December CHCQ was maintained in reserve as a backup in case CFAC had transmitter problems.

In late April 1922 an initial group of twenty-three commercial broadcasting station licences was announced, including CHCQ issued to the Herald for operation on 400 meters (750 kHz), as well as a second Calgary station, CFAC, licenced to George M. Bell and transmitting on 430 meters (698 kHz).("Radio Department: Broadcasting Stations", Winnipeg Evening Tribune, April 25, 1922, page 5.)

On August 26, 1922 it was announced that the Herald was taking over operation of CFAC, still on 430 meters ("The Herald's New Two Kilowatt Broadcating Station C.F.A.C.", Calgary Daily Herald, August 26, 1922, page 1) as a second, more powerful station. This was in addition to CHCQ, as the announcement noted "The set used during the past four months will not be discarded but is bring installed in the new quarters and will be used in case of accident with the larger machine, thus assuring a continuity of service."("Herald's Powerful Broadcaster to Operate Tuesday", Calgary Daily Herald, August 26, 1922, page 7.)

For the next few months, through December 13, 1922, the daily front page "Herald Radio Today" information box generally listed both CFAC and CHCQ ("Herald Radio Today", Calgary Daily Herald, December 13, 1922, page 1) It was only the next day that references to CHCQ disappeared.("Herald Radio Today", Calgary Daily Herald, December 14, 1922, page 1.) Information on CHCQ's final fate is limited, although one later review stated that the station closed sometime in 1924.("Early Canadian Broadcasting Records" by Weston Wrigley (reprinted from the October 1941 issue of the Canadian Radio Data Book) (hammondmuseumofradio.org))

Although CHCQ and CFAC were technically two separate stations, the Herald combined their histories when recounting the newspaper's broadcasting endeavors. On May 1, 1923 the paper presented a special program "in celebration of the first anniversary of CFAC", and its historical review combined the earlier broadcasts of CHCQ with the CFAC broadcasts that started in August, although a sidebar noted "Before the present radio station of The Herald was built, this set, that was known then as CHCQ, was use to entertain the fans."("Herald Radio to Celebrate First Anniversary Tuesday With Exceptional Programme", Calgary Daily Herald, April 28, 1923, page 6.)

Ownership information about CHCQ and CFCA is limited and sometime inconsistent. There does not appear to be any authoritive reference sources for Canadian radio stations similar to the U.S.'s monthly Radio Service Bulletin. Most early reports state that CHCQ (and in one case) CFAC was licenced to the Western Radio Company, which appears to have been co-owned, or at least closely associated with, the Herald. For example, in February 1923 a contest related to CFAC programming restricted staff from the both the Herald and the Western Radio Company from participating ("Unique Contest For Herald Radio Fans", Calgary Daily Herald, February 23, 1923, page 13.) The Radio Corporation of Calgary was credited with installing CFAC's transmitter in August 1922. It appears to have been independent from the Herald. A newspaper report stated that Charles Logwood, a Canadian Independent Telephone Co. of Toronto radio engineer, was the person responsible for installing the CFAC transmitter "for the Radio Corporation of Calgary and the Herald".("C. V. Logwood", Calgary Daily Herald, August 29, 1922, page 9.)

The table below is information reported by various contemporary station lists for CHCQ and CFAC:

Selected CHCQ and CFAC listing

		CHCQ		CFAC
Date	Source	Owner	WL	Owner	WL
April 25, 1922	Winnipeg Evening Tribune, page 5	Herald	400	George M. Bell	430
October 2, 1922	Radio World, page 13	Western Radio Co. (CHCC)	—	Radio Corp. of Calgary, Ltd.	—
1923	Year-book of Wireless, page 17 (directory)	Western Radio Co. (Herald Bldg.)	400	Radio Corp. of Calgary, Ltd.	430
August 1923	Radio Age, page 32	Western Radio Co., Ltd.	—	Western Radio Co., Ltd.	—
November 1, 1923	Radio Service Bulletin, page 8	—		Calgary Herald	430
January 1, 1924	Radio World, page 11	Western Radio Co.	400	Calgary Herald	430
March 1924	Wireless Age, page 48	Western Radio Co., Ltd.	—	Radio Corp. of Calgary, Ltd.	—
September 1, 1925	Radio Service Bulletin, page 15	Western Radio Co.	400	Calgary Herald	430
July 30, 1927	Radio Service Bulletin, page 10	—		Calgary Herald	434.5

Thomas H. White (talk) 13:19, 13 October 2019 (UTC)