FrançaisAbout Graham Spry
In Canada, in the 1930s, broadcasting was in its infancy. Concerned about the developing impact of commercial radio, a broad coalition formed the Canadian Radio League, to promote the principle of broadcasting as a public service. The League's driving force was a thirty-year-old Rhodes Scholar by the name of Graham Spry. The campaign of the Canadian Radio League, which mobilized influential organizations and ordinary citizens in both English Canada and Quebec, was instrumental in convincing the government to create the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. For the rest of his life, Graham Spry remained an effective advocate of public broadcasting and their social causes, never hesitating to speak out whenever he observed government or broadcasters failing to live up to their responsibilities.
Today, as we stand on the threshold of what many see as a new era in mass communication, it is pertinent to recall the public purpose of broadcasting.
| Graham Spry was born in St. Thomas, Ontario, in 1900. After completing his studies at the University of Manitoba and Oxford, he worked as a journalist, newspaper publisher, diplomat and corporate executive in Europe, Asia, the Middle East and Canada. In the 1960's, he settled in Ottawa, continuing his activities on behalf of public broadcasting as chairman of the Canadian Broadcasting League from 1968-73. Married to Irene Biss and the father of three children, Graham Spry died in 1983. |
