CFCY Goes On the Air By early 1926, the pressures upon Dad must have been tremendous, and he was doing a fine juggling act to hold everything together. People, generally, were quite critical of him. "You'd think he'd settle down to serious work at his age, instead of fooling around with all that radio stuff," would be a typical remark. To be thought of as "odd" by the neighbours in Prince Edward Island can seriously affect a person unless he is very tough-minded and independent. Dad was certainly both of these. Once he got an idea and was convinced that he was on the right track, nothing would shake him. He was still selling insurance though. That fed the family. His commitment to the new radio station, however, was total, and he gave it every available hour he could put into it. It and his retail radio business, a full time job in itself, were a hand in glove operation. When we buy a radio today, we simply plug it in, if it is not battery operated. Back then an aerial and a ground had be to installed. Parts and tubes wore out quickly, and batteries had to be charged. The bat¬ teries that powered the radios in those days were large and cumbersome—something about the size of car batteries—with lead plates submerged in acid. People conserved them for special programs. In the country, people saved them especially for the news and for the funeral announcements that followed the news. Prince Edward Island farmers can be quite inventive and many of them resorted to amazing devices to keep the batteries charged. Preston Rodd , a Harrington farmer actually designed and constructed a wind¬ mill from an old First World War aeroplane propeller. Mr. Rodd , who had been a telegram delivery boy when he was 13, had attended classes with Dad at the Y.M.C.A. In those years Dad found selling was often difficult because many people had unrealistic expectations as to what a radio could do. In one, but not untypical, case after a long drive out to the country and getting everything set up the new owner asked my father: "Well, now you say I can get anything on that?" "Sure you just turn the tuner." "Okay then—get me, ' Lord MacDonald 's Reel.' This popular piece of music could not instantly be produced, so the sale went sour. Aerial, ground and radio had to be dismantled and taken back to town. As the sale of radios, and the demand for servicing grew, relations with Rogers Hardware became far too complicated to remain harmo- 39