Page 16 - CambridgeLookingBackNeat

CAMBRIDGE: LOOKING BACK

Changes in media part

of Cambridge’s history

The media landscape continues to evolve in
communities across Ontario as changes in
corporate ownership and the move towards
digital platforms alter the way local news
coverage is delivered.
By the time Cambridge amalgamated in January 1973,
residents had already experienced much change in the way
local events and news were shared starting with the arrival
of the weekly Galt Reporter in 1846, founded by Peter Jaffray.
The Scottish settler had worked in the printing industry
prior to his arrival two years earlier and resigned from the
town’s first newspaper, the Dumfries Courier, to start his
own publication in partnership with James Ainslie. Located
in a building Ainslie owned at the corner of Main and Ainslie
streets, the paper continued to publish until the pair’s
political views drove a wedge between them – a common
motivation in the creation of many local newspapers in
Ontario at that time - resulting in Ainslie creating his own
weekly paper called the Dumfries Reformer. It was later
purchased by James Young in 1853.
A few decades later, another local business leader, named Oscar He sold The Galt Broadcasting Co. two years later, but it remained
Eby, founded the Hespeler Herald in 1897, and later sold it in 1918 an independent station with no network affiliation and became
to George Hudson, a former teacher and editor and publisher known as CFTJ.
of a weekly paper in Beamsville. Hudson’s son, Edgar, took over A move to a larger location on Main Street followed in 1967 and in
operation of the paper after his father’s death, until he was called 1973, on the cusp of Cambridge’s amalgamation, saw the station
to serve during the Second World War. increase its power and able to transmit at a 1,000 watts day and
It was in 1946, a year after the war, the Herald was purchased by night after its transmitter was moved to a site in southwest Galt.
Additional power increases followed allowing it to operate full-
Walter Baulk, a local business leader who was developing a local time 6 a.m. to midnight in 1975. The station was sold to Guelph-
newspaper chain. Baulk Publishers Ltd. set up shop in Preston in based CJOY Ltd. in 1977, with the caveat that it must continue to be
1947 thanks to the persuasion of the Preston Board of Trade and clearly identified with Cambridge.
a year later saw the first edition of the Preston Times roll off the
press. That promise held true as the station experienced numerous
Baulk Publishers continued to publish the Times until 1969 when changes in the years that followed, before undergoing a name
the chain was purchased by the Kitchener-Waterloo Record Ltd. change to CIAM ‘AM96’ in 1987 after being sold to Kawartha
A year later, these weekly papers merged to become the Preston- Broadcasting Ltd. That company was owned by Montreal-based
Times-Herald, eventually becoming the Cambridge Times when Power Corp. of Canada and the station became part of its growing
the amalgamation occurred in 1973. At the same time, the Galt list of assets, which included seven AM and four FM stations as
Reporter changed its name to the Cambridge Reporter. well as three TV stations.
But print wasn’t the only source of local news. Radio also played A big change came in 1997 when the Canadian Radio-television
and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC) allowed the station
a big role in Cambridge’s media landscape after Gerald (Gerry) to change to 92.6 FM, since the AM format had severely impacted
William Lee was granted approval in 1955 to operate an AM radio CIAM’s revenues as customers’ preferences sided with FM. In May
station via his The Galt Broadcasting Co. Ltd. Located at 3 Ainslie of 1998, the station transformed into CIZN-FM ‘The Zone 92.6’
St., CKGR (the ‘GR’ signified the Grand River) became one of providing current adult contemporary music catering to the 18-
three stations in Canada providing a daytime-only format and 49 crowd, resulting in CIAM 960 to officially stop broadcasting in
at the time was called ‘a new powerful voice in South Waterloo’, August of that year.
providing light music, local news and sports coverage, plus a few
transcribed programs.

16 Summer 2023 www.cambridgechamber.com