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 radio (in French)The growth of radio in Montréal and the place of radio sets in daily life.
- Radio-Canada — Premier jour de programmation pour la télévision de Radio-Canada (in French)CBFT Montréal, Radio-Canada’s first television station, went on the air on September 6, 1952.
- MEM — CFCF, CJBC, CKAC : les premières stations de radio montréalaises (in French)XWA in 1919, later renamed CFCF; commercial launch of CKAC in 1922 and its cultural programming.
- Musée des ondes Emile Berliner — Radio and the performing artsDistinguishes the September tests from CKAC’s first official broadcast on September 30, 1922, with a reference to La Presse of October 2.
Page prepared on September 19, 2026. Illustrations simplify places and scenes; they are not historical documents.
This drawing is from the book Life in Old Québec to Colour
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