Sadly Pierre Juneau died last Tuesday. He was 89. He is responsible for saving Canadian music as the founding chairman of the Canadian Radio-television Commission.
Back in an era where radio play largely determined how many records would sell for a particular artist, Canadian bands and musicians found themselves without a leg to stand on as most of the stations were owned by the good ole U S of A, who determined the programing content and played music from the United States.
Mr. Juneau required Canadian ownership of radio and television stations and set a minimum amount of Canadian music or programming that stations would be required to broadcast. As a result even to this day Canadian music takes up 30% of programming time on radio.
If only we (Australians) had our very own Pierre Juneau, as a result of his influence Canadian music flourished not only in Canada but the word. Not to say that Australian music doesn't flourish, however commercial radio could play a hell of a lot more if it!
