Founded by the son of the man who built Canada's first all-electric radio station
Rogers Communications
Ted Rogers Jr. borrowed $85,000 to buy a single FM station in 1960 and built it into one of Canada's largest media and telecom companies — continuing, in a real sense, his father's own broadcasting legacy.
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Our broadcasting history guide covers Ted Rogers Sr. and CFRB, the world's first all-electric radio station. His son built something even larger — a genuine second act to the same family's broadcasting story.
Starting with one radio station (1960)
Ted Rogers Jr., a lawyer trained at Osgoode Hall Law School, borrowed $85,000 in 1960 to buy a struggling FM station, CHFI, in Toronto — a modest starting point for what would eventually become a multi-billion-dollar company.
Cable, then wireless
Rogers moved into cable television in 1967, establishing Rogers Cable TV as one of Canada's early cable providers, then pushed further into wireless technology as it emerged. He personally made Canada's first cellular phone call from Nathan Phillips Square, covered in our city government guide — a fitting location, given how much of Rogers' later growth depended on wireless infrastructure across the country.
What it became
By the time Ted Rogers died in 2008 at age 75, Rogers Communications had grown into a roughly $12-billion-a-year company spanning wireless service, cable TV, internet, home phone service, and media properties including magazines, radio and television — a footprint that touches millions of Canadian households daily. He was posthumously inducted into the Wireless Hall of Fame in 2010.
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Sources
- The Canadian Encyclopedia — Ted Rogers
- About Rogers — Our Story
- Wireless History Foundation — Edward S. 'Ted' Rogers