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Categories: 1916 births | 2003 deaths | Canadian businesspeople | Mass media owners | Members of the Order of Canada
J. Conrad Lavigne
J. Conrad Lavigne (November 2, 1916-April 16, 2003) was a pioneering Canadian media proprietor.
Born in Chénéville, Quebec , Lavigne was raised in Cochrane, Ontario. He joined the Canadian Armed Forces in 1942 and fought in World War II. When he returned to Canada following the war, he settled in Kirkland Lake, where he purchased a hotel and became a radio host for CJKL. He subsequently moved to Timmins and applied for a broadcasting license; CFCL-AM went to air in 1952 as the first French language radio station in Canada outside of Quebec.
In 1956, Lavigne also received a television license. CFCL-TV went to air that year as a dual affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English and French television networks. Lavigne subsequently added rebroadcast transmitters in several other communities. By 1965, he owned the largest private microwave transmission network in the world.
In 1971, Lavigne's company, Mid-Canada Communications, expanded into Sudbury and North Bay. CKNC in Sudbury and CHNB in North Bay went to air that year as CBC affiliates. The former CBC affiliates in those cities, CKSO and CKNY, reaffiliated with CTV, and their owner, Cambrian Broadcasting, established a new CTV station, CITO, in Timmins. In 1977, Mid-Canada also acquired CHRO in Pembroke.
By 1980, both companies were in a financial crisis, due to their aggressive competition for advertising dollars in small markets. As a result, the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission approved the two companies' merger into the MCTV twinstick.
In 1983, Lavigne received an honourary doctorate from Sudbury's Laurentian University, and was named a member of the Order of Canada, in recognition of his pioneering contributions to Canadian broadcasting. He was also named to the Order of Ontario in 1994.
In his later years, Lavigne was a prominent residential real estate developer in Timmins.
Lavigne died in Timmins on April 16, 2003.
See also: Franco-Ontarian.
Categories: 1916 births | 2003 deaths | Canadian businesspeople | Mass media owners | Members of the Order of Canada
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