Chapter Thirteen A Secret Visit from Princess Juliana When Dad purchased CHCK from Jim Gesner and his Board of Directors in 1938, it was a difficult decision. He couldn't afford to buy it and on the other hand, he couldn't afford not to do so. He also had the problem of meeting the official regulations required of him to run two fully licenced stations. There was no feeling of joy at owning CHCK, but owning it meant that it was out of circu¬ lation. Charlottetown simply wasn't big enough to sustain two commer¬ cial radio stations. Had he closed CHCK down, that is, allowed the licence to run out, it would have afforded an opportunity for another competitor who wished to apply for it. He had fought a long and difficult battle with Gesner to gain control, and he was not about to let the broad¬ casting situation deteriorate to the cut-throat competition and animosity he had experienced. Regulations demanded that CHCK be aired for several hours each day. By this time CFCY, now part of the national network, was blos¬ soming and Dad was on the look out for good potential operators and announcers. Why not use CHCK to train them? It had very few listeners; so, for a few hours each day trainees could use it to stretch their vocal cords. Also it could be used to try out new ideas without disrupting the main programming of CFCY. Syd Kennedy, Keith Morrow , John MacEwen , Ray Simmons , Ira Stewart and Loman McAulay among others, learned how to be broad¬ casters in the afternoons on CHCK. My brother Bill was then seventeen and had won many music competitions, the main one being his song 105