In 1967, the Canadian Association of Broadcasters established The Canadian Communications Foundation. Its mission: to "commemorate throughout Canada the development of electronic communications". In the ensuing years, the project moved forward slowly, perhaps because broadcasters were too preoccupied with the challenges of the present and the future to their industry to be able to properly reflect on or to chronicle the past. But, all the while, a search was carried on to find the ideal vehicle with which to fulfill the mission.

It was not until the potentialities of the Internet were revealed and realized that the ideal vehicle was found and two veteran Canadian broadcasters became actively involved in CCF.

Ross McCreath

Lyman Potts

Ross McCreath, a senior executive of long standing with All-Canada Radio & TV a subsidiary of Selkirk Communications, had retired as Vice-President of Selkirk in 1989, a venerable firm that he had joined in 1949.

Lyman Potts' interest in radio started in 1922, when as a five-year-old he watched the transmission towers being erected for CKCK on the rooftops of the Regina Leader buildings. His first broadcast on CKCK ten years later led to a lifetime career, first being hired by CKCK after finishing high school, and culminating in his retirement as a Vice-President of Standard Broadcasting in Toronto in 1981.

Ross, as a sales executive based in Toronto, had served the Canadian broadcasting industry with distinction on dozens of Committees or projects that involved the CAB. He knew virtually everybody that owned or operated radio and TV stations coast-to-coast, as well as having had frequent dealings with national advertisers and regulators.

In 1987, when he started a two-year term as President of the Canadian Communications Foundation, Ross implemented an ambitious project to tape interviews with both retired and active broadcasters who had helped to shape Canada's broadcast industry. Over eighteen months, some 150 such interviews were recorded and deposited in the National Archives in Ottawa.

By the time Ross retired from Selkirk in 1989, the Foundation had become comparatively dormant, but he had kept copies of those tapes. Then, in 1994, he faced a pressing need to downsize his household inventory in preparation for a move to a condo. He began to search for a place for a site to deposit them for future public access, and his first call was to Professor Jon Keeble at Ryerson Polytechnic University. Jon, while sympathetic, regretted that he could not offer storage space for this type of Archive.

At this point, an approach to the CAB resulted in Ross and Lyman taking over responsibility for the future of the Foundation. A general meeting of CCF members was called, and a new Board of Directors was elected. Ross agreed to serve as President, and Lyman was named Vice-President.

Ross advised the Board of his earlier conversation with Jon Keeble, and reported that Jon had recently called back to suggest that an appropriate home for the interview tapes would be on a website about Canadian broadcasting. The members liked the idea, and encouraged Ross to explore the subject further.

In due course, a new Mission Statement was created for the Foundation, which was: "To chronicle and document, in sight and sound, the History of Canadian Broadcasting, by establishing an electronic data base, available to Universities, Colleges, Schools, Libraries, news media and communication centres across Canada and elsewhere, giving free access to all persons interested in the development of Broadcasting and related services."

Satisfied that CCF was again on the rails and a solid future was assured, the CAB decided to relinquish the responsibility for the Foundation to what became a separate entity as a non-profit organization. CCF's headquarters were moved from Ottawa to Toronto, and Lyman was able to recruit Peter Searle, a former Vice-President of Standard Broadcasting Corporation, and a practicing Chartered Accountant, to volunteer his services as Secretary-Treasurer.

The day-to-day operation of CCF thus was in the hands of Messrs, McCreath, Potts and Searle, with McCreath and Potts also acting as Co-Editors, responsible for all content on the site.

Ryerson offered crucial assistance in the form of the use of their server to house the data, as well as expertise with the design of the site. Computer whiz Trevor Trinkaus was hired as webmaster. Lyman started writing biographies of members of CAB's Hall of Fame, while Ross started gathering information on TV.

By 1997, the website carried some 130 biographies and information on most TV stations up to 1965. It involved a lot of contact with old friends and relatives of early broadcasters, to get photos for the bios and details on stations. The Internet proved to be a valuable research tool. What information had thus far been gathered was soon installed, and several people who had come across the site were quick to offer their assistance. One such boost came from former DJ/newsman Bill Dulmage, who was very interested in Canadian radio, and supplied the Foundation with some 240 radio station histories, which immediately made the site far more interesting. In 2003, Bill came back with another assist of some 300 more radio and TV histories.

If the site was to grow, it was clear that money was needed so that freelancers could be paid to research and write material for the site. In the early years, Ross and Lyman asked their friends in the industry for help, and over a three-year span collected about $ 50,000, which was used to pay out of pocket expenses. CCF has no paid full-time staff or offices: its executives work out of their homes on a pro bono basis.

CCF's biggest break came in the year 2000, when BCE purchased CTV, and a substantial grant to the Canadian Communications Foundation was a key element in the attendant "Benefits Package". This clearly and importantly established the Foundation as being recognized by the CRTC as worthy of broadcasters' support.

Pip Wedge

This funding, spread over the 7-year licence of CTV, made it possible for CCF to hire hourly-paid researcher/writers, and has enabled the CCF to establish a nucleus of more than a dozen contributors from across Canada. One such new recruit was former CTV VP Pip Wedge, who in October 2004 succeeded Lyman Potts as Vice-President of the Foundation.

In May of 2004, a year-long update of the website was completed. Trevor Trinkaus, who re-designed the site in 1999, revamped the website to today's technical standards, and also made it possible for authorized editors to go into sections of the site and make corrections or additions - a saving of both time and money.

In 2006, the CCF was fortunate to receive a grant from CHUM as part of the benefits package attending the acquisition of Craig Media Inc.

Ross McCreath and Lyman Potts, and later Pip Wedge, have achieved a great deal in a comparatively short time, and as a result a substantial part of Canada's broadcasting history is already available on-line as a unique resource through www.broadcasting-history.ca.

But more remains to be done, and new financial and human resources will continue to be essential if the project is to remain the definitive source of information on Canada's broadcasting history.