OUT OF THIN AIR

temperature and humidity were high, which was generally the case.

The small control room housed the transmitter and the latest inven— tion for broadcasting, studio turntables. Gone was the old gramaphone in front of the microphone. Those in the store could listen to the broad- cast over one or more of the radios on sale there, while those in the street could hear it from the loudspeaker over the door.

CF C Y transmitter and control console 1927.

People walking around the “dizzy block” would be startled to hear the deep BONG, BONG, BONG—the chimes of London’s Big Ben resounding up and down the street peeling out midnight even though it would only be eight o’clock in Prince Edward Island.

During these evenings all the talent was local, live, and unrehearsed. The performers may have rehearsed at home, but once they got into the studio, they were put right “on the air!”

After the move to Great George Street, the broadcasts from Bayfield Street had dwindled rapidly. One of the last involved Horace MacEwen playing a piano recital, and a newly-arrived couple from Geneva,

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