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94-722: Radio Canada International ( RCI ) is the international broadcasting service of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC). Prior to 1970, RCI was known as the CBC International Service ("CBC IS"). The broadcasting service was also previously referred to as the Voice of Canada , broadcasting on shortwave from powerful transmitters in Sackville, New Brunswick . "In its heyday", said Radio World magazine, "Radio Canada International

188-800: A shortwave radio service that would keep members of the Canadian Armed Forces in touch with news and entertainment from home. The CBC International Service became a reality with the signing of an Order-in-Council on September 18, 1942. By the end of 1944, both the production facilities and the transmitting plant were ready for test broadcasts. These tests, which began on December 25, 1944, were broadcast to Canadian troops in Europe in both English and French. Psychological warfare in German to Europe began in December 1944 as well. The German section

282-719: A 40-week series called Everyday English which was broadcast in 1988 and early 1989 over local stations in Beijing , Shanghai , and Guangzhou . With an estimated audience of almost 20 million, the course was a huge success. Just 10 months after beginning the Chinese broadcasts, RCI started a series of Arabic broadcasts to the Middle East. This coincided with the United Nations effort in the Persian Gulf to support

376-536: A custom air horn that sounded the first four notes of " O Canada ." The train was inaugurated on January 9 in Victoria and made 83 stops across the country before reaching its final stop in Montreal on December 5. The Bank of Canada issued into circulation a redesigned version of the $ 1 banknote from the 1954 Series . The image on the reverse of this version shows the original Parliament Buildings , and

470-486: A day to 18 per day, and eventually twelve languages were broadcast on a 24-hour basis, including English. A 100 kilowatt transmitter and antenna complex was built at Zeesen , near Berlin. Specialty target programming to the United States began in 1933, to South Africa, South America, and East Asia in 1934, and South Asia and Central America in 1938. German propaganda was organized under Joseph Goebbels , and played

564-886: A foreign language, such as Radio Exterior de España 's Spanish class, Un idioma sin fronteras , or the Voice of America's broadcasts in Special English . In the case of major broadcasters such as the BBC World Service or Radio Australia , there is also an educational outreach. An additional reason for international broadcasting is to maintain contact with a country's citizens travelling abroad or expatriates who have emigrated and share news from home as well as cultural programming. This role of external shortwave broadcasting has declined as advances in communications have allowed expatriates to read news from home and listen and watch to domestic broadcasts in their own language via

658-440: A formal and informal basis. In addition, many receivers used in Europe and Russia can receive the longwave broadcast band (150 to 280 kHz), which provides reliable long-distance communications over continental distances. Shortwave receivers are capable of receiving shortwave transmissions (2,000 to 30,000 kHz or 2 to 30 MHz). Depending on time of day, season of year, solar weather and Earth's geomagnetic field,

752-411: A former brothel, moving to the converted Ford Hotel a few years later, and then to rented office tower space. In 1973, RCI moved to its current home, Maison Radio-Canada . Figures are Canadian dollars ( CAD ). RCI's Gross Cost per Canadian resident (per year) was: CAD   0.38 (2003, 2004). Note: there are 168 hours in a week (24 hours × 7 days). RCI's Programming Production (historical) In

846-667: A key role in the German annexation of Austria and the Munich Crisis of 1938. In 1936, the International Radio Union recognized Vatican Radio as a "special case" and authorized its broadcasting without any geographical limits. On December 25, 1937, a Telefunken 25-kW transmitter and two directional antennas were added. Vatican Radio broadcast over 10 frequencies. During the Spanish Civil War ,

940-622: A nation's foreign policy interests and agenda by disseminating its views on international affairs or on the events in particular parts of the world. During the Cold War the American Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty and Indian Radio AIR were founded to broadcast news from "behind the Iron Curtain " that was otherwise being censored and promote dissent and occasionally, to disseminate disinformation . Currently,

1034-428: A new focus on information for new immigrants to Canada as well as continuing to broadcast to the world, moving away from news and current affairs. It also increased its broadcast hours to 12 hours a week, which could be heard via satellite and online, although its shortwave hours were restricted and remained unchanged. A new Internet service called RCI Viva acted as an online portal for new Canadian immigrants. RCI Viva

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1128-467: A new weekly podcast in each RCI language; and producing reports from the field in Chinese, Arabic and Punjabi." As of 2024, RCI was producing weekly 10-minute podcasts in Mandarin, Arabic, Punjabi, Tagalog, and Spanish. Its web portal offered text in those languages as well as curated English and French material from CBC and Radio Canada. Tony Burman , a former editor-in-chief of CBC News , criticised

1222-483: A result of a modification in its shortwave time-share agreement which had Radio Sweden to broadcast to North America via RCI's transmitters in Sackville and RCI to Europe via Radio Sweden until Sackville's closure in 2012. On April 4, 2012, an approximate 80 percent budget cut to the International service from $ 12.3 million a year to $ 2.3 million a year was announced by RCI Director Hélène Parent. In

1316-475: A signal might reach around the world. In previous decades shortwave (and sometimes high-powered mediumwave) transmission was regarded as the main (and often the only ) way in which broadcasters could reach an international audience. In recent years the proliferation of technologies such as satellite broadcasting, the Internet, and rebroadcasts of programming on AM and FM within target nations has meant that this

1410-464: A single country, because domestic entertainment programs and information gathered by domestic news staff can be cheaply repackaged for non-domestic audiences. Governments typically have different motivations for funding international broadcasting. One clear reason is for ideological, or propaganda reasons. Many government-owned stations portray their nation in a positive, non-threatening way. This could be to encourage business investment in or tourism to

1504-453: A single online multilingual stream. On December 1, 2005, Radio Canada International began broadcasting its program across North America as RCIplus , utilizing the Sirius satellite radio system. This was part of a CBC/Radio-Canada selection of satellite channels which included national versions of domestic radio stations from CBC Radio and Première Chaîne . Following an internal review in

1598-475: A two audio stream, which became a three audio stream programming delivery structure after 2000. Initial programming delivery structure (2000–2004) Later programming delivery structure (2004–2006) These audio streams were available from RCI's website as well as across Europe, the Middle East and Northern Africa, utilizing the Hotbird -6 satellite. In late 2006 the online streams were eliminated in favour of

1692-601: A wider audience through other methods (particularly the internet and satellite television) and are cutting back on (or even entirely dropping) shortwave. An international broadcaster has several options for reaching a foreign audience: An international broadcaster such as the BBC, Radio France International or Germany's Deutsche Welle, may use all the above methods. Several international broadcasters, such as Swiss Radio International , have abandoned shortwave broadcasting altogether, relying on Internet transmissions only. Others, such as

1786-425: Is a bigger trend towards TV (e.g. BBC World News, NHK World, CCTV-9) and news websites. Some services, such as Swiss Radio International, left shortwave altogether and exist in Internet form, Swissinfo . Radio Canada International ceased shortwave broadcasting in 2012 becoming a purely online service producing podcasts and maintaining a website in several languages. Radio Netherlands ceased broadcasting in 2012 and

1880-602: Is called Tam-Tam Canada and is presented by Raymond Desmarteau , which replaced Le Canada en direct , Le sens des affaires and its previous current-affairs based shows. Programs in Arabic , Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese and Ukrainian were relatively unchanged. The Link was also repeated on CBC Radio One , as part of the CBC Radio Overnight lineup. In November 2006, Radio Sweden 's medium-wave broadcast from Sölvesborg ceased regular transmissions as

1974-457: Is considered to be a data format, with email and RSS merely being refinements of the technology it can be said that international broadcasting has a deep relationship with modern-day datacasting. Canadian Centennial The Canadian Centennial was a yearlong celebration held in 1967 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation . Celebrations in Canada occurred throughout

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2068-479: Is no longer necessarily the case. Transmitter output power has increased since 1920. Higher transmitter powers do guarantee better reception in the target area. Higher transmitter power in most cases counteracts the lesser effects of jamming . International stations generally use special directional antennas to aim the signal toward the intended audience and increase the effective power in that direction. Use of such antennas for international broadcasting began in

2162-576: Is not at all unusual, as the first commonly agreed international broadcast was a Morse Code telegram transmitted from US President Wilson to the German Kaiser (mid-1918) via a high powered longwave transmitter on the US East Coast (this important event in international broadcasting history was described in depth in the IEEE "The History of International Broadcasting" first volume). As Morse Code

2256-1078: Is still fairly small when compared to global radio listener numbers. The rural populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia (as well as East Asia) have radio listener bases that are far larger than the largest international TV broadcaster could hope for, yet they could be considered underserved since the end of the Cold War (when these regions had more radio broadcasts targeted at them). Many international television broadcasters (as well as domestic television broadcasters) have set up accounts on streaming video sites like YouTube to allow their news and information broadcasts to be globally distributed. The viewer numbers for these sites may seem huge. Cable, TVRO and terrestrial television broadcasters probably have 100 to 1,000 times larger audiences for their international broadcasting content. International broadcasters known to maintain their own streaming video sites: Many international broadcasters (television or radio) can reach "unreachable" audiences via email and RSS feeds. This

2350-628: The Cape Verde Islands . High speed shortwave telegraphy circuits were then installed from London to Australia, India, South Africa and Canada as the main element of the Imperial Wireless Chain from 1926. The Dutch began conducting experiments in the shortwave frequencies in 1925 from Eindhoven . The radio station PCJJ began the first international broadcasting on March 11, 1927, with programmes in Dutch for colonies in

2444-742: The Caribana parade and festival was launched in 1967 as a celebration of Caribbean culture, and as a gift from Canada's West Indian community in tribute to the Centennial year. The Centennial Voyageur Canoe Pageant was a canoe race started on May 24 in the Rocky Mountains by ten teams representing eight provinces and the two territories. Two provinces were not entered. 3,283 miles were paddled and portaged in 104 days by 100 men using six man shifts per team. They arrived in Montreal on September 4. Other privately sponsored canoes from across

2538-757: The Caribbean in English. There were also Sunday night programs broadcast to Cuba, Colombia, Peru and Ecuador in Spanish and to Brazil in Portuguese. Daily Spanish and Portuguese transmissions began on July 6, 1947. At around the same time as the expansion into the Caribbean and Latin America , the CBC International Service became involved with the newly formed United Nations . United Nations broadcasts through

2632-539: The Dutch West Indies and Dutch East Indies and in German, Spanish and English for the rest of the world. The popular Happy Station show was inaugurated in 1928 and became the world's longest-running shortwave programme, continuing until 1995, transferring to Radio Netherlands after World War II. In 1927, Marconi also turned his attention toward long distance broadcasting on shortwave. His first such broadcasts took place to commemorate Armistice Day in

2726-577: The Gulf War , of which Canada was a participant. In early 1991, facing further budget deficits, the Government of Canada ordered an across-the-board budget cut. Every ministry and Crown corporation , including the CBC, was required to participate. After evaluating its own budget, the CBC decided it could no longer pay for Radio Canada International without extra funding from the federal government. To save

2820-458: The Voice of Vietnam , the BBC World Service , Deutsche Welle and Radio Korea as part of a transmitter-time exchange agreement. Canada's only high-power shortwave relay station, Sackville also broadcast CBC North to northern Quebec and Nunavut . The CBC-SRC network runs three 1 kW relays of domestic radio, one of which originated from Sackville. Sackville's northern-hemisphere transmission-targeting capabilities were similar to those of

2914-538: The 1990s RCI's programming output peaked The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, RCI's parent, owned and operated the Sackville transmitter site ( CKCX ). The site was on the Tantramar Marshes , several kilometres east of Sackville, New Brunswick . RCI leased or bartered its spare transmission capacity with other international broadcasters. Sackville was used by Radio Japan , China Radio International ,

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3008-401: The 2012 federal budget, a 10 percent funding reduction was announced for the domestic broadcaster, CBC/Radio-Canada. The Crown corporation subsequently translated this to an 80 percent reduction to the International service under its financial and managerial control. These changes effectively ended broadcasting by RCI via shortwave and satellite. RCI News service (as a separate news service from

3102-724: The Arab world; Israel's service, Kol Yisrael , served both to present the Israeli point of view to the world and to serve the Jewish diaspora , particularly behind the Iron Curtain . Radio RSA , as part of the South African Broadcasting Corporation, was established in 1966 to promote the image of South Africa internationally and reduce criticism of apartheid. It continued in 1992, when the post-apartheid government renamed it Channel Africa . Ironically,

3196-497: The BBC World Service, have abandoned shortwave transmissions to North America, relying on local relays, the Internet, and satellite transmissions. Most radio receivers in the world receive the mediumwave band (530 kHz to 1710 kHz), which at night is capable of reliable reception from 150 to 2,500 km distance from a transmitter. Mediumwave is used heavily all over the world for international broadcasting on

3290-672: The British BBC launched international services in German , French and Italian. In 1942, the United States initiated its international broadcasting service, the Voice of America . In the Pacific theater, General Douglas MacArthur used shortwave radio to keep in touch with the citizens of the Japanese-occupied Philippine Islands. Several announcers who became well known in their countries included British Union of Fascists member William Joyce , who

3384-617: The CBC International Service continued until November 29, 1952, when they were transferred to larger shortwave facilities run by the Voice of America . Throughout its early years, the CBC International Service concentrated on broadcasting to Western Europe in the aftermath of World War II. By the early 1950s, several international shortwave stations began to beam programs into the Soviet bloc countries in an effort to circumvent heavy censorship of world news to their citizens. New English and French programs directed to Africa were added; this have

3478-630: The CBC/Radio-Canada derived news) ended, and the Brazilian and Russian sections closed. All shortwave transmissions (including those from the Sackville Relay Station in Sackville, New Brunswick ), satellite, and all broadcast programming ended on June 26, 2012. In addition: Until 2020, Radio Canada International maintained a website, a mobile app , and a cybermagazine, in English, French, Mandarin , and Arabic that

3572-476: The Centennial year. The prime minister, Lester Pearson , appointed in 1965 a committee headed by Ernest Côté to plan events in Ottawa for 1967. The CBC commissioned Gordon Lightfoot to write the song the " Canadian Railroad Trilogy " for broadcast on January 1, 1967. The Canadian Government commissioned typographer Carl Dair to create a new and distinctively Canadian typeface . The first proof of Cartier

3666-483: The International Service direct coverage to every continent except Asia. The CBC International Service played a major role in covering Canada's Centennial celebrations in 1967. Ceremonies from coast to coast were carried over short-wave to the world on July 1, 1967 as Canada marked its 100th birthday. In July 1970, the service was renamed Radio Canada International. The change took place because it

3760-589: The Nationalist forces received a powerful Telefunken transmitter as a gift of Nazi Germany to aid their propaganda efforts, and until 1943 Radio Nacional de España collaborated with the Axis powers to retransmit in Spanish news from the official radio stations of Germany and Italy. During the Second World War , Russian, German, British, and Italian international broadcasting services expanded. In 1938

3854-569: The US in the 2000s. This is a popular method to reach listeners in cars that would otherwise not be accessible during that part of the day. However, in terms of the global international broadcasting audience the DAB listener base is very small—one can assume that it is less than 2% of the listener base globally. International broadcasting via 24 hour TV news channels has its origins in North America in

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3948-512: The US operates similar services aimed at Cuba ( Radio y Televisión Martí ) and the People's Republic of China , Vietnam , Laos and North Korea ( Radio Free Asia ). The BBC World Service , the Voice of America , All India Radio and other western broadcasters have emphasized news broadcasts, particularly to countries that are experiencing repression or civil unrest and whose populations are unable to obtain news from non-government sources. In

4042-702: The US, Central and South America, and the Far East began in 1926. A second station, Zeesen , was added in 1931. In January 1932, the German Reichspost assumed control of the Nauen station and added to its shortwave and longwave capacity. Once Adolf Hitler assumed power in 1933, shortwave, under the Auslandsrundfunk (Foreign Radio Section), was regarded as a vital element of Nazi propaganda . German shortwave hours were increased from two hours

4136-516: The United Nations Stephen Lewis , actor Donald Sutherland , author Naomi Klein , former CBC Radio managing editor Jeffrey Dvorkin , and others, calling on CBC to rebuild the international service stating that "In an interconnected world in search of truth, facts and honest journalism, countries like Canada cannot abdicate their role on the world stage.” History of RCI Language Broadcasting Services RCI's interval signal

4230-518: The Web to be played back later, as " podcasts ". International broadcasting using the traditional audio-only method will not cease any time soon due to its cost efficiencies. However, international broadcasting via television is considered more strategically important at least since the early 2000s. The BBC World Service was the first broadcaster to consider setting up a satellite television news and information channel as far back as 1976, but ceded being

4324-550: The Wertachtal relay station in Bavaria . Its site layout was similar to Wertachtal's, with a few differences. Wertachtal has three arms of HRS type antennas spaced at about 120 degrees, allowing for near-360-degree global coverage. International broadcasting International broadcasting, in a limited extent, began during World War I , when German and British stations broadcast press communiqués using Morse code . With

4418-1016: The Yukon Fish and Game Association. It was a voyage down the Yukon River from Whitehorse to Dawson City commemorating the memory of the Klondike gold-seekers who sailed the Yukon River from Bennett Lake to Dawson City during the Klondike Gold Rush of 1898. On August 6, 54 craft departed Whitehorse on a ten-day voyage to Dawson carrying 108 adults, 45 children, and 9 dogs. Participants came from four provinces, thirteen states and one European country. They sailed in different types of watercraft to include rubber-rafts, canoes, kayaks, river-boats, power-boats, skiffs, cabin cruisers, and four Amphicars . In addition to these major projects there were commemorative projects throughout

4512-600: The case of emergencies, a nation may broadcast special programs overseas to inform listeners what is occurring. During Iraqi missile strikes on Israel during the 1991 Gulf War, Kol Israel relayed its domestic service on its shortwave service. Besides ideological reasons, many stations are run by religious broadcasters and are used to provide religious education, religious music, or worship service programs. For example, Vatican Radio , established in 1931, broadcasts such programs. Another station, such as HCJB or Trans World Radio will carry brokered programming from evangelists. In

4606-547: The case of the Broadcasting Services of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia , both governmental and religious programming is provided. Stations also broadcast to international audiences for cultural reasons. Often a station has an official mandate to keep expatriates in touch with their home country. Many broadcasters often relay their national domestic service on shortwave for that reason. Other reasons include teaching

4700-524: The centennial as "the last good year" in his book 1967: The Last Good Year . In 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker proposed a travelling exhibit on a train that would traverse the country and bring exhibits on the history of Canada to the citizens. The train consisted of six exhibit cars and seven cars for staff and equipment pulled by two diesel locomotives, one from each from Canadian Pacific Railway and Canadian National Railway . The locomotives were painted in purple, grey, and black livery and had

4794-621: The centennial year. In a political and cultural context, Expo 67 was seen as a landmark moment in Canadian history. Expo 67 in particular was a signifier of the nation's mood of extreme optimism and confidence on heading into its second century. In retrospect, the centennial is seen as a high point of Canadian aspirations prior to the anxious decade of the 1970s that saw the nation divided over issues relating to inflation , an economic recession , government budget deficits and Quebec separatism . Popular Canadian historian Pierre Berton referred to

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4888-541: The changes saying they were "flipping RCI’s historic mission on its head" by refocussing RCI on immigrants within Canada rather than on producing content for international audiences. In February 2021, an open letter was sent to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau signed by 32 prominent Canadians including former prime minister and foreign minister Joe Clark , former foreign minister Lloyd Axworthy , former Canadian ambassador to

4982-572: The construction of municipal arenas and parks. The Centennial Flame was also added to Parliament Hill. Children born in 1967 were declared Centennial babies. In 1961, Prime Minister John Diefenbaker announced that the federal government would provide funding for the construction of about 860 buildings as centennial projects. Under the Centennial Commission, convened in January 1963, various projects were commissioned to commemorate

5076-537: The country made similar trips. In November 1967, the Confederation of Tomorrow conference was held at the newly built Toronto-Dominion Bank Tower . Called by Ontario Premier John Robarts , the summit of provincial premiers led to a new round of federal-provincial negotiations to amend the Canadian Constitution . The Yukon River Flotilla was a Centennial project organized and sponsored by

5170-431: The country. Municipal funding for approved centennial projects was matched dollar for dollar by both the province and the federal government. Providing a concrete reminder of the centennial year celebrations these projects included the 1,500 seat Norbrock Stadium in Kamloops , British Columbia, the National Arts Centre in Ottawa , the Centennial Building in Fredericton and many others. Approximately $ 25 million

5264-411: The early 1980s. CNN technically was the first 24-hour international news channel as it was made available in Canada soon after launch. The BBC World Service considered setting up a global TV news channel as far back as 1975, but abandoned the idea for internal reasons. Notwithstanding a large number of international 24-hour television news and information broadcasters, the television percentage of viewers

5358-413: The first to CNN (that had primary access to Canada soon after launch). The defunct BBC World Service Antigua Relay Station was built in 1976, but its setup costs were not known to have been part of the BBCWS decision processes at the time. In the early 1990s, many international (as well as domestic) 24-hour news and information channels launched as part of the post- Cold War prosperity bubble. There

5452-440: The idea. CBC Television and the National Film Board of Canada filmed the Tattoo, as did the Military. Tattoo 1967 was the largest undertaking by the military during peacetime and has never been reproduced since. The Tattoo depicted the military history of Canada from the first French military and settlers in Canada in 1665 right up to Canada's UN Peace Keeping role in 1967. Challenge for Change (in Quebec Societé Nouvelle )

5546-524: The internet and satellite. A number of international services such as the original BBC Empire Service , Radio Netherlands , France's Poste Colonial (now Radio France International ) and others were founded in part with the goal of helping draw overseas empires closer to the mother country and provide closer cultural and communication connections between the home country and its colonies, a role that became largely obsolete due to decolonization . Because of this many broadcasters are discovering they can reach

5640-741: The isolationist Albania under Enver Hoxha , virtually a hermit kingdom , became one of the most prolific international broadcasters during the latter decades of the Cold War, with Radio Tirana one of the top five broadcasters in terms of hours of programming produced. Estimated total programme hours per week of some external broadcasters At the end of the Cold War , many international broadcasters cut back on hours and foreign languages broadcast, or reemphasized other language services. For example, in 1984, Radio Canada International broadcast in English, French, German, Spanish, Czech/Slovak, Hungarian, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian. In 2005, RCI broadcast in English, Chinese, Arabic, Russian, and Spanish. There

5734-431: The mid-1930s and became prominent by the 1950s. By using antennas which focus most of their energy in one direction, a modern station may achieve the equivalent, in that direction, of tens of millions of watts of radio power. Some international broadcasters have become available via digital audio broadcasting (DAB) in Europe in the 1990s, and in a similar limited way in the Americas via in-band FM ( IBOC ) DAB systems in

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5828-409: The nation. Another reason is to combat a negative image produced by other nations or internal dissidents, or insurgents. Radio RSA , the broadcasting arm of the apartheid South African government, is an example of this. A third reason is to promote the ideology of the broadcaster. For example, a program on Radio Moscow from the 1960s to the 1980s was What is Communism? A second reason is to advance

5922-424: The obverse includes a green monochrome adaptation of the stylised maple leaf Centennial logo marked with the years 1867 and 1967. Two variants of the design were printed; the first had the serial number at the top of the obverse, whereas the second and more common variant had the years 1867 and 1967 printed twice flanking the apex of the coat of arms. The Canadian Centennial Medal was issued in 1967 to commemorate

6016-454: The official service of the Soviet Union (renamed the Voice of Russia , following the collapse of the Soviet Union). Clarence W. Jones started transmitting on Christmas Day, 1931 from Christian missionary radio station HCJB in Quito , Ecuador . Broadcasting in South Asia was launched in 1925 in Ceylon – Radio Ceylon , now the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation is the oldest in the region. Shortwave broadcasting from Nauen in Germany to

6110-470: The reunification of Germany on October 3, 1990, and Deutsche Welle took over its transmitters and frequencies. The Cold War led to increased international broadcasting (and jamming ), as Communist and non-Communist states attempted to influence each other's domestic population. Some of the most prominent Western broadcasters were the Voice of America , the BBC World Service , and the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty . The Soviet Union's most prominent service

6204-572: The same year. He continued running a regular international broadcast that was picked up around the world, with programming from the 2LO station, then run by the BBC . The success of this operation caught the BBC's attention who rented out a shortwave transmitting station in Chelmsford , with the callsign G5SW, to Marconi. The BBC Empire Service was finally inaugurated on December 19, 1932, with transmissions aimed towards Australia and New Zealand. Other notable early international broadcasters included Vatican Radio (February 12, 1931), Radio Moscow ,

6298-536: The service would cease on March 31, 1996. However, after a global response to the proposed shutdown, it was announced in March 1996 that the service would continue with half of RCI's budget coming from CBC and the other half from the Department of Foreign Affairs . While the English and French services survived, all RCI-produced programming (except for news broadcasts) were eliminated and replaced with CBC Domestic network programs. Since then, some RCI-produced programs in English and French have been restored. RCI then began

6392-451: The service, RCI Program Director Allan Familiant announced a major restructuring that took effect on March 25, 1991. As a result, six of the thirteen languages included in the programming (Czech, German, Hungarian , Japanese, Polish , and Portuguese) were discontinued. There was also a short-wave program that went out to sub-Saharan Africa that was discontinued in 2000. In December 1995, CBC announced that it could no longer fund RCI and that

6486-416: The severing of Germany's undersea cables, the wireless telegraph station in Nauen was the country's sole means of long-distance communication. The US Navy Radio Service radio station in New Brunswick, Canada, transmitted the ' Fourteen Points ' by wireless to Nauen in 1917. In turn, Nauen station broadcast the news of the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II on November 10, 1918. Guglielmo Marconi pioneered

6580-455: The summer of 2006, Radio Canada International announced a restructuring of its programming output. Its homepage press release read: "Radio Canada International is proud to announce that it will launch its new English programming on Monday, October 30th. In the interim, our current shows will be replaced by two programs, from October the 2nd to the 29th." On October 30, 2006 Radio Canada International relaunched its English and French programming with

6674-407: The top Canadian stories for foreign audiences as well as reports from the field in Chinese, Arabic and Punjabi. RCI's five mobile apps were deleted and folded into the CBC News and Radio-Canada Info mobile apps. According to RCI's announcement: "RCI’s operations will focus on three main areas: translating and adapting a curated selection of articles from CBCNews.ca and Radio-Canada.ca sites; producing

6768-409: The use of short wave radio for long-distance transmissions in the early 1920s. Using a system of parabolic reflector antennae, Marconi's assistant, Charles Samuel Franklin , rigged up a large antenna at Poldhu Wireless Station , Cornwall , running on 25 kW of power. In June and July 1923, wireless transmissions were completed during nights on 97 meters from Poldhu to Marconi's yacht Elettra in

6862-697: The war, the radio service operated in four languages. The British launched Radio SEAC from Colombo, Ceylon (Sri Lanka) during World War II. The station broadcast radio programs to the allied armed forces across the region from their headquarters in Ceylon. Following the war and German partition, each Germany developed its own international broadcasting station: Deutsche Welle , using studios in Cologne , West Germany, and Radio Berlin International (RBI) in East Germany. RBI's broadcasts ceased shortly before

6956-417: The year but culminated on Dominion Day , July 1. Commemorative coins were minted, that were different from typical issues with animals on each — the cent , for instance, had a dove on its reverse. Communities and organizations across Canada were encouraged to engage in Centennial projects to celebrate the anniversary. The projects ranged from special one-time events to local improvement projects, such as

7050-634: Was Radio Moscow and China used Radio Peking (then Radio Beijing , now China Radio International ). In addition to the U.S.-Soviet cold war, the Chinese-Russian border dispute led to an increase of the numbers of transmitters aimed at the two nations, and the development of new techniques such as playing tapes backwards for reel-to-reel recorders. West Germany resumed regular shortwave broadcasts using Deutsche Welle on May 3, 1953. Its Julich transmitter site began operation in 1956, with eleven 100-kW Telefunken transmitters. The Wertachtal site

7144-626: Was a participatory film and video project created by the National Film Board of Canada in 1967 as a response to the Centennial. Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production to illuminate the social concerns of various communities within Canada, with funding from eight different departments of the Canadian government . The impetus for the program was the belief that film and video were useful tools for initiating social change and eliminating poverty. In Toronto,

7238-585: Was an on-demand listening portal as well as an online stream, whereas listeners in North America could listen via satellite subscription radio from Sirius Canada entitled RCI plus. Both RCI Viva and RCI plus used a similar multilingual schedule. Listeners in Europe were still able to listen to RCI's three channels in English, French and multilingual. An interim program, on the English-language service during October called Canada Today in Transition

7332-422: Was another burst of global news channels launching in the late 2000s as part the developing world trying to catch up with the developed world in this area. Broadcasters in one country have several reasons to reach out to an audience in other countries. Commercial broadcasters may simply see a business opportunity to sell advertising or subscriptions to a broader audience. This is more efficient than broadcasting to

7426-560: Was authorized in 1972 and began with four 500-kW transmitters. By 1989, there were 15 transmitters, four of which relayed the Voice of America. Meanwhile, in East Germany, the Nauen site began transmitting Radio DDR, later Radio Berlin International, on October 15, 1959. In addition to these states, international broadcast services grew in Europe and the Middle East . Under the presidency of Gamal Nasser , Egyptian transmitters covered

7520-453: Was being reduced from 20 to 9 (in contrast to 200 employees in 1990) and that its English and French language sections would close and be replaced by curated content from the domestic CBC and Radio-Canada services. RCI would also begin offering online services in Punjabi and Tagalog . The changes went into effect on May 19, 2021. The idea for creating an international radio voice for Canada

7614-566: Was being reduced from 20 to 9 - consisting of "five journalists assigned to translate and adapt CBC and Radio-Canada articles, three field reporters, and one chief editor" and that its English and French language sections would close and be replaced by curated content from the domestic CBC and Radio-Canada services, and the Arabic, Spanish, and Chinese sections would also be cut in size. However, RCI would also begin offering online services in two new languages: Punjabi and Tagalog . RCI's old website

7708-458: Was broadcast as a single program across Europe, Africa and the Middle East, replacing the two regular editions for Europe and Africa. It was hosted by ex- Canada Today for Africa presenter Carmel Kilkenny. The new two-hour English-language flagship program is called The Link and is hosted by Marc Montgomery , replacing RCI's previous weekday programs Canada Today , Media Zone , Sci-Tech File , and Business Sense . Its French-language counterpart

7802-403: Was closed and instead, RCI content was incorporated into an RCI portal on the CBC website which features curated articles from the CBC and Radio Canada websites in English and French and articles from CBC and Radio-Canada translated into five foreign languages as well as reports from RCI's field reporters. 10-minute weekly podcasts of Canadian news are also posted in those five languages rounding up

7896-532: Was felt that RCI should have its own identity, separate from the CBC domestic network, even though RCI had just been fully integrated into the CBC system. On November 7, 1971, RCI inaugurated its new 250 kW transmitters which were five times more powerful than the existing units. This significantly improved RCI's signal quality in Europe and Africa. Canada recognized the People's Republic of China in 1971. Before beginning its Mandarin Chinese service, RCI produced

7990-497: Was first proposed as far back as the 1930s. Several studies commissioned by the CBC Board of Governors in the late 1930s had come to the conclusion that Canada needed a radio service to broadcast a Canadian point of view to the world. By the early 1940s, this need was also recognized by a series of Parliamentary Broadcasting Committees. Finally, in 1942, Prime Minister William Lyon MacKenzie King announced that Canada would begin

8084-605: Was made available by the Centennial Committee for local projects. Some projects, such as the Ontario Science Centre , were completed after the 1967 centennial. The 1967 International and Universal Exposition, or Expo 67 as it was commonly known, was the general exhibition, Category One World's Fair held in Montreal from April 27 to October 29. Expo 67 was Canada's main celebration during

8178-700: Was one of the two " Lord Haw-Haw "s; Frenchmen Paul Ferdonnet and André Olbrecht , called "the traitors of [Radio] Stuttgart"; and Americans Frederick William Kaltenbach , "Lord Hee-Haw", and Mildred Gillars , one of the two announcers called " Axis Sally ". Listeners to German programs often tuned in for curiosity's sake—at one time, German radio had half a million listeners in the U.S.--but most of them soon lost interest. Japan had " Tokyo Rose ", who broadcast Japanese propaganda in English, along with American music to help ensure listeners. During World War II, Vatican Radio's news broadcasts were banned in Germany. During

8272-488: Was one of the world's most listened-to international shortwave broadcasters". However, as the result of an 80 percent budget cut, shortwave services were terminated in June 2012, and RCI became accessible exclusively via the Internet. It also reduced its services to five languages (in contrast with the 14 languages it used in 1990) and ended production of its own news service. On December 3, 2020, RCI announced that its staff

8366-579: Was produced by Colonel Ian Fraser of the Black Watch and would eventually included 1700 military men and women in a show that would travel across Canada from March to November performing over 150 performances. Some said that Tattoo 1967 was the major event that year and there were calls to have the Tattoo travel through the U.S., Europe and even Russia but the Prime Minister at the time scuttled

8460-602: Was published as "the first Canadian type for text composition" to mark the centenary of Canadian Confederation . The Canadian Armed Forces contributed to Centennial celebrations by producing a military tattoo unlike any other in Canadian history. It was formed in Picton, Ontario in February 1967 by members from the three branches of the military providing service personnel at the Picton base for training purposes. The "show"

8554-854: Was staffed by refugees such as Helmut Blume and Eric Koch and would go on to broadcast " denazification " programming as well as broadcasts aimed at East Germany during the Cold War . In early 1945, it was announced that the CBC International Service was ready and would go on the air on February 25 using the name the "Voice of Canada". By 1946, the CBC International Service had expanded to include regular transmissions in Czech and Dutch . Beginning in July, special once-a-week programs were broadcast to Scandinavia in Swedish and Danish and later in Norwegian , as well. In November 1946, daily broadcasts started to

8648-423: Was the first four notes of O Canada played on a piano , followed by "Radio Canada International" pronounced in English, and then French. The main studios for RCI have been in Montreal since RCI was created in 1943–44. RCI as a corporate entity (separate from its broadcasting operations) has also been based in Montreal since its inception in the 1940s, with its studios and offices located initially in

8742-490: Was transformed into RNW Media , an NGO that trains youth in developing countries to use digital media for social change. Radio Moscow's successor, Voice of Russia , was disbanded in 2014 and replaced by Sputnik , a multimedia news platform, which does not broadcast on shortwave. Other shortwave broadcasters have ceased operations entirely since the 1990s. In addition, new standards, such as Digital Radio Mondiale , are being introduced, as well as sending programs over

8836-566: Was updated with news items and features written by RCI staff. The service produced podcasts in those languages, both general interest podcasts featuring news, interviews, and reports on Canada, and limited series thematic podcasts on various topics related to Canada or Canadian activity internationally. As of 2020, the flagship half-hour weekly podcasts were The Link (English), Tam-Tam Canada (French), Canadá en las Américas Café (Spanish), Voice of Canada (Mandarin), and Without Limits (Arabic). On December 3, 2020, RCI announced that its staff

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