The Canadian Communications Foundation (CCF) has announced it’s wrapping up operations after more than 55 years.
Conceived in 1967 as a Centennial Broadcast Museum project, with initial funding from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CAB), a physical museum was first considered before CCF Chairman and retired All-Canada and Selkirk Communications executive Ross McCreath moved in 1994 to make the internet the home of Canadian broadcasting history.
Since then, through industry donations and volunteer support, CCF has published a comprehensive database of radio and television station histories, ownership, networks, and programming, as well as a collection of research articles on broadcasting in Canada.
Executive Director Pip Wedge, who also got involved with the foundation following his retirement from CTV as Vice-President of Programming in 1994, said the foundation started to wind down in 2020 as funding started to dry up and with its original mission largely accomplished, as websites like Broadcast Dialogue stepped up to document the ongoing changes in the industry.
“We’d achieved the original objective to present a history of over-the-air broadcasting and how it’s evolved,” Wedge told Broadcast Dialogue. “There seemed to be no one source for new funding, so it was a good sign. Then volunteers were coming harder to come by, aging, and not readily replaced by young people.”
While the foundation is seeking formal revocation of its non-profit status from the Canada Revenue Agency, its collected materials will continue to be available online through archive.org, while York University will continue the work of studying and cataloguing the history of Canadian broadcasting at broadcasting-history.ca. Wedge says it’s unclear what level of obligation York might take on.
“While it is bittersweet to lead the foundation as its operations have been wound down, the work of more than 55 years of dedicated broadcasting professionals and volunteers will continue to live on through both the archive and York University,” said Adam Walker, President of the CCF. “I’m proud have been a part of the foundation’s board and thank all members, past and present, for their efforts in building the history we have today.”
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