By Edward B. Moogk
Source: Candian Talent Library Trust, The Canadian Encyclopedia
Canadian Talent Library Trust (CTL). A non-profit trust that produced a major series of recordings 1962-85 by Canadian artists and of Canadian compositions. It was conceived by Lyman Potts and initiated by the Standard Broadcasting Corporatio
n-owned radio stations CFRB (Toronto) and CJAD (Montreal).
Canadian Talent Library Trust
Canadian Talent Library Trust (CTL). A non-profit trust that produced a major series of recordings 1962-85 by Canadian artists and of Canadian compositions. It was conceived by Lyman Potts and initiated by the Standard Broadcasting Corporation-owned radio stations CFRB (Toronto) and CJAD (Montreal). Potts, a broadcast executive, was director of the CTL 1962-78, followed 1978-85 by Jackie Rae. Its offices were located in Toronto.
Initially the CTL distributed its recordings only to subscribing broadcast stations, but in 1966, with its 80th project, it began leasing its masters for commercial release to RCA, Columbia (Sony), Capitol, GRT, Quality, United Artists, and Intercan. Its productions typically comprised popular and light classical music in formats suitable for AM broadcast (ie, brief performances in an 'easy-listening' or 'middle-of-the-road' style). When in 1970 the CRTC introduced its regulations requiring the increased use, on radio, of music composed and/or performed by Canadians, the CTL assumed fresh significance as a ready source of such material.
Its roster included Tommy Ambrose, Peter Appleyard, John Arpin, the singer Keath Barrie, Ed Bickert, the Boss Brass (originally formed for a CTL recording), the Laurie Bower Singers, Ron Collier, the clarinetist Henry Cuesta, Trump Davidson, Maureen Forrester, the singers Cecile Frenette, Vic Franklyn, and Paul Hahn, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Hart House Orchestra, the singer Sheree Jeacocke, Yves Lapierre, the trombonist Ted Roderman, the Spitfire Band, William Stevens, Don Thompson, and several orchestras and choirs under the direction of Johnny Burt, who served 1962-72 as the CTL's music director. By 1985, when the CTL was merged with FACTOR and ceased production, it had released 268 LPs.
Excerpt:
"In radio’s first 40 years, no one had yet figured out how to make
Canadian private radio “Canadian”. Foreign music – foreign artists –
foreign programs dominated the Canadian airwaves."
"One might ask why Canadian stations didn’t play Canadian records. The
answer? Simply because there were virtually no Canadian records to
play.
Canada did not have a record industry, other than a group of
independent manufacturers and/or distributors of imported foreign
records.
Canada did not have a record industry that encouraged the making of
Canadian records at a profit. Canada lacked the population that could
justify the expense of making a record."
"The problem facing radio stations here was how to get their hands on Canadian-produced music. The musicians’ union loved the rules that forced stations to play live music. There was no recording industry in this country so any recorded music came from the United States." - J. Lyman Potts
Creation of the Canadian Talent Library
"In 1962, Lyman convinced the Board of Broadcast Governors (BBG), which
had taken over the regulation of programming from the CBC, that a
station’s support of Canadian talent should be assessed on the amount
used in its programs, and that money expended by a station to produce
Canadian music programming, whether live or recorded, should be credited
by the BBG in analyzing a station’s performance. He told the Board
that the future of Canadian content was dependent on a large and
continuing supply of records by Canadian artists (of which there were
few), and that radio station owners themselves would have to take the
initiative to fund their making.
Supported by Standard
Broadcasting’s Montreal and Toronto stations, Lyman went on to create
the Canadian Talent Library, hiring Canadian musicians in Montreal and
Toronto for the production in stereo of the first ten CTL albums. Set-up
as a non–profit trust, Lyman invited any and all stations to join with
them in expanding CTL as a service to the industry. By 1971, when the
CRTC announced its Canadian Content Regulations, over 200 stations had
subscribed to CTL. By 1985, when CTL was merged with FACTOR, CTL had
produced 265 albums containing 3,000 performances by Canadian musicians
and singers."
Expert from: "J. Lyman Potts (1916-2018)," History of Canadian Broadcasting, Canadian Communications Foundation
Read about the life of our friend J. Lyman Potts here.
Listen to the CTL albums!
The folks over at Museum of Canadian Music have digitized hundreds of the CTL albums including scans of the album covers and liner notes. Check them out!
