OUT OF THIN AIR

of work Dad had done on the expansion of the transmitter and because of the equipment he had bought to put into it, each of them owned half the transmitter. It was also decided that my father would give Walter Burke the entire proceeds of a series of political broadcasts to be done over the Hillsboro Street transmitter and with this money, Walter would buy my father’s share of the transmitter, and own it completely. My father was to keep on paying for and using the call letters CFCY, and to make no objection to another licence being granted in the city. As far as Dad was concerned the matter was settled, and he felt he had been fair in dealing with Mr. Burke and his lawyer. All he wanted to do was attend to his own business and try to make a success of it.

Looking at all of the correspondence, it seems to me it was a fair arrangement, fairly arrived at.

When the split finally came between Mr. Burke and Dad, Dad felt very badly about it. He felt he had no choice. He had bought the licences for three years, had supplied all the technical expertise had written all the correspondence between the station and Ottawa, and had designed and put together the bulk of the programming which for two years had originated mainly from our living room on Bayfield Street. He had engi- neered and fought single-handedly for the broadcast of the Jubilee Celebrations, not to mention other important events like political rallies.

It was time for expansion. His letterhead for three years had read the Island Radio Company, Station CFCY, Charlottetown. He saw no reason to change now after all his work and expense.

In 1928, however, when Mr. Burke and Dad finally separated, Mr. Burke was still very upset. Mutual friends tried to bring the two men together to see if they could work something out. It would appear they actually attempted to do this, because in the National Archives there is a letter from my Dad with a cheque requesting the 1928 CFCY licence be issued under the joint ownership of Walter E. Burke and Keith S. Rogers, address 143 Great George Street. But something happened. What it was we will never know. We can only surmise that the two men once again disagreed, because another letter was sent off requesting joint ownership, but this time listing two transmitters, one at Upper Hillsboro Street, Burke’s and the other located at 143 Great George Street, Dad’s. This request was turned down and the partnership broke up. Eventually the former cheque was returned to Dad and a new licence was issued to Island Radio, CFCY, 143 Great George Street.

Walter Hyndman, who was Radio Inspector for the area at the time,

60