#134 FATHER OF NIAGARA FALLS RADIO
EVA HOMUTH & HOWARD BEDFORD
At a 1948 meeting of the Junior Chamber of Commerce at Niagara Falls, Howard Bedford was presented with the Jaycee Gold Cup award as outstanding man of the year. The mayor outlined the contributions Howard had made in establishing a local radio station and giving freely of air time to any worthy cause.” In reply to the mayor’s talk, Bedford said, “No man could win like this without the aid and help of his wife” whom he claimed had been with and beside him in every move he made.
Howard Bedford married Eva Homuth in Wingham on February 4, 1939, a
bitterly cold day with snow almost hip-high. They missed their honeymoon train
after the reception but the engineer knew they were coming so stopped at a
nearby crossing so they could board.
Eva was born in Turnberry Township, Huron County on September
12, 1913. Her parents were John E.
Homuth, a farmer, and Agnes Scott Grieve, a schoolteacher. Eva was the second youngest of the five sisters;
an older sister had passed in childhood.
Howard was born January
21, 1917 in Chatham. His mother, Beatrice Westman, died when he was aged 5. His
father, Burton Bedford, a lawyer, remarried so Howard grew up with a
step-brother. His grandfather encouraged
Howard’s interest in radio and lent him the money to build a one-tube receiver from
directions taken from Popular Mechanics. At age 14, still in high
school, Howard apprenticed to the local Chatham radio station; at the same time
he obtained a license to operate a backyard radio transmitter. At age 16, he
left school for a full time announcer’s job in Windsor. When he failed to obtain
a radio license in Niagara Falls, he went to Wingham and into partnership with
Doc Cruikshank at CKNX radio.
I don’t think that today we fully appreciate how vital radio was to Canada’s identity in the 1920s and 1930s. It allowed families—especially in isolated farming districts, mining towns, and northern settlements—to receive daily weather forecasts, crop and livestock market prices, and election news in real time. Stations broadcast church services for those unable to travel, school lessons for remote children, and government announcements during crises. Radio’s role expanded further in the Great Depression: it offered free entertainment when people could not afford theatres or concerts, connected listeners to national events like parliamentary speeches or royal visits, and strengthened a shared Canadian identity through music, drama, and news. For businesses, it became an essential advertising medium, allowing local merchants to reach customers. The radio was a practical tool of daily survival, a cultural bond, and one of the country’s most influential institutions.
CKNX radio began as an experimental broadcast founded by local radio dealer W.T. "Doc" Cruikshank. At first, he transmitted informal programmes from his Wingham shop with no formal license and with very low power. By 1930, the station was on the air regularly, usually at midday, and it featured music, and community news, entertainment and local announcements. In 1935 when the federal government required a commercial license, Cruikshank, encouraged by listener support, applied for and received a license for CKNX. Advertisements were sold for modest rates (as low as 50 cents.)
CKNX was an important community institution, serving rural audiences with market reports, weather, church services, local news (including In Memoriam) advertisements, local entertainment. CKNX’s radio success led to the launch of CKNX-TV in 1955, one of the smallest towns in North America to have its own television station during the early years of Canadian TV. (Personal disclosure: Growing up in Harriston in the 1950s, there were only two TV stations that we could access--Kitchener CKCO channel 13 and Wingham CKNX channel 8. These gave us all our news The National, sports, Hockey Night in Canada, comedy I Love Lucy, variety, Ed Sullivan, drama shows Bonanza, childrens Howdy Doody, local programmes M'Lady's Matinee. Mom and I performed an accordian duet on that show. CKNX has a special place in my childhood.)
Eva and Howard met when both worked at CKNX. He was the
station’s commercial manager and she the stenographer/receptionist. It was a work-place
romance. The physical layout of early radio stations—typically a few offices
and a studio—meant staff worked in close proximity and Howard’s work and Eva’s
would have intersected constantly. Such environment fostered familiarity and
teamwork and marriage between coworkers was not uncommon.
As a small regional station, CKNX would have had a minimal
staff—a station manager, some announcers, engineer, salesperson, stenographer/secretary.
Eva was a key administrative figure. Her stenography skills were valued; she
took dictation for letters to advertisers and performers, transcribed script
for announcers, typed contracts and invoices, prepared sponsor copy quickly
before airtime. Because local radio depended on live broadcasts, she probably handled
programme logistics like typing daily schedules, preparing cue cards for announcers,
filing scripts and keeping records of what aired. (These records were proof
that commercials actually aired—essential for farm supply stores, seed
companies, and local merchants who relied on radio advertising.) She was also
the station’s public contact person—answering phones, greeting visitors, logging
mail, typing lists of contest winners, handling community announcement
requests. For a young woman in Wingham, working at CKNX would be considered quite
prestigious. It required some formal business training and placed her in a
modern, technological and cutting-edge media.
When CKNX obtained its professional broadcasting license in 1935, Howard Bedford became Doc Cruikshank’s financial partner and the station’s first commercial director. He was only 18 years old and yet was now responsible for the station’s advertising income. Duties included selling airtime to local businesses, negotiating sponsorship arrangements, writing or approving advertising copy. When a sponsor purchased airtime, copy would be dictated, typed, approved and broadcast within hours. This meant frequent direct collaboration between commercial staff and stenographers and a shared responsibility for accuracy and timing.
In 1941, Howard enlisted in 99th Battery of the Canadian Army and later served as Signals Captain at the Canadian Army Headquarters in Europe. Howard went overseas in October 1942, landed at Normandy a month after D-Day and saw action in Belgium and Holland. As a signals specialist, he would have handled radios, field telephones, and message transmissions, ensuring that firing orders, targeting corrections, and command instructions moved quickly and accurately between officers, observers, and gun crews. Because of his prewar career in radio, he already had practical knowledge of transmission equipment, sound technology, and disciplined communication procedures. Captain Bedford was discharged from the army in 1945.
In 1946, Howard sold his shares in CKNX and reapplied for, and was granted, the Niagara Falls radio license. He wasn’t yet thirty years old but already had
eleven years of station management.
Howard would own 50% and Eva 49.9% of the new radio station. Howard
served as President.
Obtaining the hundreds of pieces of equipment proved to be difficult as there was a short
supply after the war. Space for studios and offices was offered by the Niagara
Falls Bridge Commission which had about 2400 square feet available under the Carillon
Tower at the Rainbow Bridge.
The Rainbow Carillon is one of only 12 in Canada. It has 55 bells with a total weight
of over 43 tons; the largest weighs 10 tons, the smallest 9 pounds. The Rainbow
Carillon sounds three times a day, 365 days a year. Photographing the bells
was forbidden for many years, and there was much speculation about the reason. It
turned out that the largest bell had an inscription dedicating it to “God’s
glory and in grateful memory of our nation’s leaders, Winston Spencer Churchill
and Franklin Delano Roosevelt.” The inscription omitted Canada’s wartime prime
minister William Lyon Mackenzie King, who was so indignant about the slight
that the public was blocked from viewing or photographing the Churchill bell.
At first, due to federal regulations, CHVC could only broadcast
to 9 pm, but soon it became the first in the area to offer 24 hour radio to shift
workers and a large after-midnight local audience. With one of the strongest
frequencies at the “top of the dial”, it reached an audience across the Niagara
Peninsula and cross-border into Buffalo. Early programming emphasized local
news, community announcements, music, church services, live events, open-end
formats and tourist-oriented shows. Bedford believed in offering a wide
variety of live music and gave many musicians their start in the business. In
1957, ten hours a week were broadcast in French to serve francophone
residents of Welland.
Three transmitting towers, each 145 feet in height were built near the QE Highway. The towers were the station’s transmitting antennas, the small building the transmitter station that powered them, and the large open area housed the 18 miles of copper wire plowed into the ground system to boost the signal long distances. Together they formed the technical core that allowed the station’s broadcasts to reach listeners miles away.
The first studio for a staff of 23 was the 2400 square foot space under the Niagara Falls Carillon on the Canadian side of the Rainbow Bridge. The radio station required special soundproofing so the sound of the bells could not be heard during broadcasts. The studio was compact and functional, walls lined with acoustic tiles or heavy drapes to deaden the echo, a single large ribbon microphone suspended on a boom, a single wooden desk scarred from years of scripts and coffee cups, a glowing "On Air" light outside the door. The room would have been warm because tube equipment generated heat...and slightly smoky as many announcers smoked. Engineers manually cued records; everything was live or manually played.
In 1964, Howard sold his radio station for $220,000 (note: it had not been all that profitable in the past few years) and retired.
Eva and Howard raised three sons and in 1999, the couple celebrated their 60th anniversary. On the subject of a long marriage, Howard said, “Being married, there’s a lot of ups and downs but as long as there is more ups you stick with it.” Eva added “There is no secret to a long marriage, just commitment.”
Howard, aged 82, passed Aug 3, 1999 and Eva, aged 89, in 2002.
EVA JEAN HOMUTH b. Sept 12 1913 in Turnberry Twp., Huron Co m. Howard Bedford in Wingham on Feb 4 1939 d. 2002 in Niagara Falls, Ont
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