Félix Baxter Ricard (1905 – 1993) was a Canadian media proprietor.Ricard, F. Baxter (1905-1993)
Canadian Communications Foundation Born in 1905 in Verner, Ontario,"Media pioneer a 'driving force'; Baxter Ricard developed radio, television and cable TV network". ''

Northern Ontario Business Northern may refer to the following: Geography * North, a point in direction * Northern Europe, the northern part or region of Europe * Northern Highland, a region of Wisconsin, United States * Northern Province, Sri Lanka * Northern Range, a ...

'', December 1, 1990. he moved to

Sudbury Sudbury may refer to: Places Australia * Sudbury Reef, Queensland Canada * Greater Sudbury, Ontario (official name; the city continues to be known simply as Sudbury for most purposes) ** Sudbury (electoral district), one of the city's federal e ...

in childhood with his father Félix Ricard, who became a hardware merchant in the city and a longtime trustee on the French-language school board."Philanthropist extraordinaire". ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of approximately 2 million in 2015, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it ...

'', July 4, 2003. He married

Alma Ricard Alma Ricard , née Vézina (October 4, 1906 – June 2, 2003) was a Canadian broadcaster and philanthropist."Philanthropist extraordinaire". ''The Globe and Mail'', July 4, 2003. A partner with her husband F. Baxter Ricard in his broadcasting h ...

in adulthood, and the couple took over management and operation of the store until moving into broadcasting. In 1947, Ricard obtained a radio licence to establish CHNO in

, Ontario, the first

bilingual Multilingualism is the use of more than one language, either by an individual speaker or by a group of speakers. It is believed that multilingual speakers outnumber monolingual speakers in the world's population. More than half of all E ...

radio station in Canada outside of Quebec. Ricard, F. Baxter (1905-1993)
/ref> Ten years later, in 1957, he became the first commercial radio broadcaster in Canada licensed to operate two AM stations in the same city. CHNO became an all- English station, and Ricard's new CFBR became the new

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

outlet.Wallace, C. M.; & Thomson, Ashley (Eds.) (1993). ''Sudbury: Rail Town to Regional Capital'' (3rd ed.). Dundurn Press. . p. 200 A third station, CJMX, was established on FM in 1980. In 1972, Baxter also launched

Northern Cable Northern Cable was a Canadian cable television provider, which operated from 1975 to 1998. The company, based in Sudbury, Ontario, served most of the Northeastern Ontario region. Although CUC Broadcasting was the largest single shareholder,"Struggl ...

, a cable television service for Northern Ontario. In 1980, Northern Cable became the major shareholder in MCTV, when Cambrian Broadcasting and

J. Conrad Lavigne J. Conrad Lavigne, CM, O.Ont (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 Forces in 1942 and fought in World War ...

's broadcast holdings were merged for financial reasons. Due to the CRTC's rules at the time on

concentration of media ownership Concentration of media ownership (also known as media consolidation or media convergence) is a process whereby progressively fewer individuals or organizations control increasing shares of the mass media. Contemporary research demonstrates in ...

, Ricard's radio stations continued to operate as a separate corporation from Ricard's shares in MCTV, although they were later merged through Mid-Canada Radio in 1985. In 1990, Ricard's media holdings were sold off in a series of transactions: MCTV was acquired by Baton Broadcasting, Mid-Canada Radio was sold to

Pelmorex Pelmorex Corp. is a Canadian weather information and media company. Based in Oakville, Ontario, it is the owner of the Canadian specialty channels The Weather Network (English) and MétéoMédia (French), and their associated digital properties. ...

, becoming the Pelmorex Radio Network, and Northern Cable was sold to

CF Cable CF Cable TV was a Canadian cable company in the 1980s and 1990s. Owned by Jean Pouliot, a businessman in Montreal, Quebec whose holdings also included CFCF-TV"CFCF issue is proving attractive to investors". ''The Globe and Mail'', June 18, 1985. an ...

.Oiva Saarinen, ''From Meteorite Impact to Constellation City: A Historical Geography of Greater Sudbury''. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2013. . pp. 198-199. Ricard was also involved in the community as chairman of the Sudbury General Hospital board, as chairman of the city's 1960s

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

project to revitalize

Downtown Sudbury This is a list of neighbourhoods in the urban core of Greater Sudbury, Ontario. This list includes only those neighbourhoods that fall within the pre-2001 city limits of Sudbury — for communities within the former suburban municipalities, see ...

, and as president of the local

chamber of commerce A chamber of commerce, or board of trade, is a form of business network. For example, a local organization of businesses whose goal is to further the interests of businesses. Business owners in towns and cities form these local societies to ad ...

and the local chapter of the Kiwanis Club. In 1980, he received a public service award from the Central Canada Broadcasters' Association, and in 1987 was awarded an honorary doctorate by

Laurentian University Laurentian University (french: Université Laurentienne), officially the Laurentian University of Sudbury, is a mid-sized Bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public university in Greater Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, incorporated on March 28, 1960. Lau ...

. In 1990, he was named entrepreneur of the year by the Northern Ontario Business Awards. Ricard died in Sudbury in 1993. Following his death, his widow Alma became a prominent philanthropist, and was inducted into the Order of Canada in 2000. In 1999, he was posthumously inducted into the Canadian Association of Broadcasters Hall of Fame.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ricard, F. Baxter 1905 births 1993 deaths Canadian radio company founders Canadian radio executives Franco-Ontarian people Businesspeople from Greater Sudbury People from West Nipissing