The Voice of Newfoundland: A Social History of the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland,1939-1949

ISBN: 0802095534

Author: Webb, Jeff

Condition: Used

Review'The Voice of Newfoundland is a work of subtlety and imagination that provides a compelling view of the dialectic between broadcaster and audience in the creation of culture. It deserves an international audience and should be standard reading for PhD fields in Canadian history.' -- Bill Parenteau - Canadian Historical Review: vol 91:04:10Product DescriptionSimilar to the CBC and BBC, the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland was a public broadcaster that was at the centre of a cultural and political change from 1939 to 1949, during which Newfoundland faced wartime challenges and engaged in a constitutional debate about whether to become integrated into Canada. The Voice of Newfoundland studies these changes by taking a close look at the Broadcasting Corporation of Newfoundland's radio programming and the responses of their listeners.Making excellent use of program recordings, scripts, and letters from listeners, as well as government and corporate archives, Jeff A. Webb examines several innovative programs that responded to the challenges of the Great Depression and Second World War. Webb explores the roles that radio played in society and culture during a vibrant and pivotal time in Newfoundland's history, and demonstrates how the broadcaster's decision to air political debates was pivotal in Newfoundlanders's decision to join Canada and to become part of North American consumer society.An engaging study rich in details of some of twentieth-century Newfoundland's most fascinating figures, The Voice of Newfoundland is a remarkable history of its politics and culture and an important analysis of the influence of the media and the participation of listeners.From the Back Cover'The Voice of Newfoundland provides a great deal of previously unknown history about an important cultural medium which is often neglected in academia, and makes very good use of the information that has survived about the BCN's cultural goals and their listeners' responses to BCN programming. With a clever interplay of chronological and thematic presentation, Jeff A. Webb makes a convincing argument about the centrality of radio to the rapid political and social changes Newfoundland underwent between 1939 and 1949.'-Mary Vipond, Department of History, Concordia UniversityAbout the AuthorJeff A. Webb is an associate professor in the Department of History at Memorial University.