{"id":58440,"date":"2023-12-14T05:00:48","date_gmt":"2023-12-14T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/?p=58440"},"modified":"2023-12-13T10:35:38","modified_gmt":"2023-12-13T14:35:38","slug":"back-when-you-had-to-pay-radio-receiving-licences-in-canada","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/back-when-you-had-to-pay-radio-receiving-licences-in-canada\/","title":{"rendered":"Back When You Had to Pay: Radio Receiving Licences in Canada"},"content":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post<\/em> and SRAA<\/a> contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

THE DAY YOU HAD TO PAY: <\/b>Radio Receiving Licences in Canada<\/h1>\n

by Dan Greenall<\/strong><\/p>\n

MANY <\/b>of us who are licensed [Canadian] amateurs can appreciate the fact that we are no longer subject to an annual licence renewal fee. As of April 1, 2000, that practice was discontinued by Industry Canada as a new streamlined authorization procedure was put in place for the amateur radio service. This came as a pleasant surprise to many who were paying $24 per annum per licence up until that point.<\/p>\n

What many of us may not realize is that, prior to 1953, Canada had a licensing system in place for your radio receiver. Under the Radiotelegraph Act of 1913, a government minister (for most of this period, the Minister of Marine and Fisheries) had the power to license radio broadcasting stations and to charge a $1 licence fee on each receiving set. By 1929 three hundred thousand licenses were bought at $1.00 each.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

An article appearing on the Friends of Canadian Broad- casting<\/em> website a few years ago stated that the annual licence fee for receiving sets doubled to $2.00 in 1930. It was also noted that this was a lot of money during the Depression days that followed and two bucks could buy more than 40 loaves of bread. As a result, so the story goes, \u201charassed citizens\u201d would try to outwit approaching government collectors by passing word along in time for their neighbours to shut off their radios and lock their doors.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>During much of this period, radios that were made in Canada bore a \u201cWarning\u201d sticker such as the one in the accompanying photo. It stated that anyone convicted of operating the receiving set without first having obtained the proper licence could be liable to be fined for up to $25 and have their equipment confiscated. As noted in the book Radios of Canada <\/i>by Lloyd Swackhammer, the penalty in 1924 was $50.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

As you can see from the attached copies, such licences were being issued by the Department of Marine Radio Branch in 1936. In 1937, it was the responsibility of the Department of Transport \u2013 Radio Division.<\/p>\n

Then in 1938, the DOT upped the fee to $2.50. It was another 15 years until this practice was finally abandoned.<\/p>\n

So the next time you sit back and flip on the switch of your receiver, you might now have a greater appreciation of a privilege that most of us now take for granted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post: THE DAY YOU HAD TO PAY: Radio Receiving Licences in Canada by Dan Greenall MANY of us who are licensed [Canadian] amateurs can appreciate the fact that we are no longer subject to an annual licence renewal fee. As […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3,305,288,43],"tags":[10395,10271,4342,4094,4091,819,681],"class_list":["post-58440","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","category-nostalgia","category-radio-history","category-shortwave-radio","tag-canadian-private-receiving-station-licence","tag-dan-greenall","tag-guest-posts","tag-nostalgia","tag-radio-history","tag-swl","tag-vintage-radio"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pn3uc-fcA","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":59056,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2024\/02\/vis-the-end-of-an-era\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":0},"title":"VIS: The End of an Era","author":"Thomas","date":"February 20, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post and SRAA contributor, Dan Greenall, who shares the following guest post: The End of an Era by Dan Greenall Many of us can remember the many radio telephone stations that could be found outside the regular SWBC bands during the 1970\u2019s and 80\u2019s and even\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/02\/OTC-Sydney-Australia-reverse-side.jpeg?resize=1400%2C800&ssl=1 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63579,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/hcjb-quito-ecuador-then-and-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":1},"title":"HCJB Quito, Ecuador – Then and Now","author":"Thomas","date":"August 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor, Dan Greenall, who writes: In the 1970s, the powerful signal from radio station HCJB, the Voice of the Andes, in Quito, Ecuador, could be heard with station identifications (similar to this one circa 1971) being given between programs. I am led to believe that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HCJB-1970-QSL.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HCJB-1970-QSL.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HCJB-1970-QSL.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HCJB-1970-QSL.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/HCJB-1970-QSL.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":61829,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/dan-revisits-radio-japan-a-half-century-later\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":2},"title":"Dan Revisits Radio Japan: A Half-Century Later","author":"Thomas","date":"January 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who shares: Running into an old friend Hi Thomas I was doing some random tuning on shortwave this evening using the KiwiSDR at VK2ATZ in New South Wales, Australia, when I came upon a repeating music box-like tune on 13705 kHz that\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Guest Posts"","block_context":{"text":"Guest Posts","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/guest-posts\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Radio-Japan-QSL-Dan-Greenall-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Radio-Japan-QSL-Dan-Greenall-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Radio-Japan-QSL-Dan-Greenall-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Radio-Japan-QSL-Dan-Greenall-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Radio-Japan-QSL-Dan-Greenall-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63537,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/dan-unearths-radio-memories-a-1990s-treasure-trove-of-broadcast-ephemera\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":3},"title":"Dan Unearths Radio Memories: A 1990s Treasure Trove of Broadcast Ephemera","author":"Thomas","date":"August 3, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes: Hi Thomas Before the days of the internet and e-mail, handwritten or typed reception reports mailed out to broadcast stations would often net the lucky DXer other goodies, including station brochures, program schedules, frequency guides, station stickers, blank reception report\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "AM"","block_context":{"text":"AM","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/am\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VOFC-booklet-1992-page-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VOFC-booklet-1992-page-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VOFC-booklet-1992-page-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VOFC-booklet-1992-page-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/VOFC-booklet-1992-page-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":63903,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/09\/kbs-world-radio-then-and-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":4},"title":"KBS World Radio \u2013 Then and Now","author":"Thomas","date":"September 8, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, who writes: Back in the 1980\u2019s, KBS World Radio was known as Radio Korea, and they could be heard quite well at times here in eastern North America. Even with modest receiving equipment, their familiar interval signal, that included regular ID\u2019s in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Radio-Korea-1983.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Radio-Korea-1983.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Radio-Korea-1983.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Radio-Korea-1983.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Radio-Korea-1983.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":64341,"url":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/2025\/10\/algeria-on-shortwave-then-and-now\/","url_meta":{"origin":58440,"position":5},"title":"Algeria on Shortwave – Then and Now","author":"Thomas","date":"October 24, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Many thanks to SWLing Post contributor Dan Greenall, for sharing the following guest post: Algeria on Shortwave - Then and Now by Dan Greenall In the early 1970s, Radiodiffusion-Television Algerienne ran a modest shortwave service (no English) mainly for North Africa, the Middle East,\u00a0and Europe. A copy of their schedule\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News"","block_context":{"text":"News","link":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/category\/news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greenall-Algeria-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greenall-Algeria-1.jpeg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greenall-Algeria-1.jpeg?resize=525%2C300&ssl=1 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greenall-Algeria-1.jpeg?resize=700%2C400&ssl=1 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Greenall-Algeria-1.jpeg?resize=1050%2C600&ssl=1 3x"},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58440","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58440"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58440\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58446,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58440\/revisions\/58446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58440"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58440"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/swling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58440"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}