Calgary’s first public radio exhibition did not happen in a studio. It happened in a movie theatre.
Alberta’s heritage guide records that in 1922 the Palace Theatre hosted that moment. A performance by the Palace orchestra went out over the Calgary Herald’s radio station, which later became CFAC.
Picture the room
The Palace had only been built the year before, in 1921. Imagine a crowd in a hall made for silent film and live acts, listening to music arrive through the air.
Radio kept finding a home there. Parks Canada says the Palace was the original home of William Aberhart’s popular religious broadcasts, which spread his ideas and led to the founding of the Social Credit party.
Why it is worth knowing
The heritage guide says Aberhart’s Back to the Bible hours went out from that stage between 1925 and 1927. The building became a National Historic Site in 1996.
Today the Palace is a place where you can sit down for a drink. Not a bad way to spend an evening inside a building that has seen this much.
It’s a building that keeps turning up at the start of big things, and we love that. Movies, music over the air, a political movement. One address on Stephen Avenue holds all of it.
The timing is something. The heritage guide says the Allen family sold its theatres to Famous Players in 1923, just a year after that first radio exhibition. The Palace saw a lot happen in a very short stretch.
Radio has carried plenty of music to Calgary since, and a movie theatre on Stephen Avenue was part of how it started here.
We still do not have the exact date of the 1922 broadcast, and we cannot name the musicians. If you know where those records live, point us at them.
Go stand outside the Palace and picture a crowd in 1922 listening to the sky.
There’s more where this came from. Start with Walk Stephen Avenue Like a Movie Fan, or jump to How Folk Fest Took Over Prince’s Island Park. Or try They took the King Eddy apart brick by brick for a change of pace.
Related reading from us: The Garneau Theatre Edmonton Is an Art Deco Cinema From 1940 and The Plaza Theatre Calgary Opened in 1935 With Will Rogers.
Quick answers
Calgary’s first public radio exhibition happened in a movie theatre, the Palace Theatre, in 1922. Alberta’s heritage guide records that a performance by the Palace orchestra went out over the Calgary Herald’s radio station, which later became CFAC.
The heritage guide says Aberhart’s Back to the Bible hours went out from the Palace stage between 1925 and 1927. Parks Canada says those popular religious broadcasts spread his ideas and led to the founding of the Social Credit party.
The heritage guide says the Allen family sold its theatres to Famous Players in 1923, just a year after that first radio exhibition in 1922. The Palace became a National Historic Site in 1996, and today you can sit down for a drink inside it.
