1951:

“Think of the People Next Door,” reads an irate editorial in the Vancouver Province. “Recently this newspaper published a reasonable letter to the editor which protested against the bedlam created by selfish householders who take their radios outside and turn up the power. This complaint pointed out that radio is all right when properly used, but that when several radios are turned on at full volume, and compete with each other on the summer air, then they are a serious menace.”

The article goes on to condemn the evils of excessive radio volume at great length, claiming “noise is a problem in any city, and undue noise can do more to destroy pleasure and tranquility than almost any other form of menace. It is also physically tiring, as doctors will attest, and men and women who have worked hard all day and want to rest on their porches and in their gardens in the early evening deserve consideration.”

“City Bylaw 2351 provides for ‘the abatement and control of noise in the City of Vancouver’, the article warns, “and this can be invoked in connection with abuses by the owners of radio sets in any residential area just as effectively as in the downtown sections.”

 

IMAGE: Female announcer at work at CJOR Radio Station, circa 1942. Image Courtesy of the Vancouver Archives.