Timmins history: The beginning of CFCL Radio

The history of Timmins includes two media moguls who got their start here. 

There’s Roy Thomson, who began his empire with CKGB Radio and the Timmins Daily Press. Over the next several weeks, local historian Karen Bachmann will focus on J. Conrad Lavigne. His radio and TV holdings began with CFCL, the first French-language radio station in Ontario. Its coverage area stretched from Kirkland Lake to Hearst. 

Its first broadcast was on December 23rd, 1951. Its official opening and celebratory broadcast were a month later at the Palace Theatre, which seated about 900 people. 

“And they also had a huge crowd outside,” Bachmann adds, “but what was also very exciting was they had a huge crowd at home, too, because oh my gosh, everybody could listen to the radio and get in on this.” 

At the official opening broadcast at the Palace Theatre were Timmins Mayor Philip Fay; his Kapuskasing counterpart, Alex Stevenson; a representative of the Roman Catholic bishop; the director of the French CBC; and the general manager of Ottawa-based Le Devoir newspaper.  Conrad Lavigne was a director of the paper. 

“There was a lot of speeches. Everybody was very happy with it,” Bachmann adds, “And then they trotted off to the Goldfields Hotel, which was still around, and they had a banquet for 350 people, which was kind of cool.” 

Next week: What happened to Lavigne in Kirkland Lake that launched his two-year fight to get his radio station licence.