The other exciting, and still new, entertainment medium of the 1920s was the radio. Its scope, however, went beyond pure entertainment as the airwaves quickly began to compete with newspapers as purveyors of information. Those outside the city were particularly attached to the radio. No longer did one have to wait for three-day or week-old newspapers in order to receive world and regional news. Up-to-the-minute reports on the weather and grain and livestock quotations were enthusiastically received. In reducing the farmer's isolation and bringing the rural hinterland closer to the city, radio became another of those subtle means by which the metropolitan centre maintained its dominance over the countryside.
While business advertisers were the first to attempt to mold the ever-growing listening audiences to their will, the possibilities of radio were soon recognized by preachers and politicians. In Canadian history, perhaps the most remarkably successful use of the radio was achieved by the Calgarian, William Aberhart. By the early twenties, Aberhart was a well-known educator and religious figure. Under his leadership, Crescent Heights was developed into what was considered a model high school. At the same time, his renown as a preacher was manifested by the large audiences that filled the 2,200 seat Palace theatre (illustration 20) to hear his Sunday afternoon sermons. In 1925 Aberhart was persuaded to take his message to the air and in a few years he had gathered a vast religious following that stretched as far as the CFCN radio transmitter could broadcast. As a consequence, when Aberhart was converted to Social Credit monetary theory in 1932 and subsequently decided to enter politics, he was able to count on the unstinting support of his immense radio congregation. To the further detriment of his political rivals, Aberhart, more than any other politician of his day, had mastered the radio as a tool for projecting his ideas and personality. As one BBC official observed during his tour of Alberta during the mid-thirties, there was no device or technique of the radio speaker that Aberhart had not thoroughly mastered.
