Homes, Trades and Games of Long Ago · Drawing 38 of 40
Listening to the radio
The 20th century
Before television, the whole family gathered around the radio. They listened to the news, music and stories with no pictures at all: you had to imagine everything!
Look together
What would you like to hear on the radio?
An idea to try
Tell a very short scene aloud without showing a picture. Your child draws what they imagined, then explains which sounds or words gave them ideas.
For the adult reading along
A little more to discover
Radio became increasingly important in Québec homes during the 1920s. In Montréal, the Marconi company conducted tests through station XWA in 1919; it later became CFCF. In 1922, the newspaper La Presse launched CKAC, a pioneer of French-language radio. The Musée des ondes distinguishes its September tests from its first official broadcast on September 30, 1922. Listeners discovered news, music and stories told by voices. Radio-Canada television began in Montréal in 1952.
This scene is discovered with the ears as much as the eyes. Ask your child what can be understood by hearing a voice without seeing the person speaking. The set drawn is imaginary; the scene does not assume every family owned one or listened to the same programs.
Sources and illustration notes (4)
An imaginary radio and listening scene; no particular brand or program is shown.
These links lead to other websites. Explore them with an adult. References identify the institution and the related lesson; some linked pages are in French.
- Ville de Montréal — Montréal à l’heure de la radioDéveloppement de la radio montréalaise et place des appareils dans la vie quotidienne.
- Radio-Canada — Premier jour de programmation pour la télévision de Radio-CanadaCBFT Montréal, première chaîne de télévision de Radio-Canada, en ondes le 6 septembre 1952.
- MEM — CFCF, CJBC, CKAC : les premières stations de radio montréalaisesXWA en 1919, nom ultérieur CFCF; lancement commercial de CKAC en 1922 et contenu culturel.
- Musée des ondes Emile Berliner — Radio and the performing artsDistingue essais de septembre et première émission officielle de CKAC le 30 septembre 1922, avec référence à La Presse du 2 octobre.
Source review: 2026-09-19. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
