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Radio News: CBC ends daily time signal

Oct 17, 2023 10:10 pm

The New York Times reports that on Oct. 9 Canadian Broadcasting stopped airing the daily so-called "long dash." Since 1939 CBC Radio in Canada had broadcast a message familiar to generations of Canadians. “The beginning of the long dash indicates exactly 1 o’clock Eastern Standard Time” is how it went in its most recent iteration. People literally synchronized their watches to the daily tone from the CBC. But no more. The CBC, Canada’s national public broadcaster, said that accuracy issues were a key reason for dropping the message. People still listen to the radio over the air — but also on satellite and online, and those broadcasts can be delayed for several seconds or more. For many listeners, the moment they hear the long dash time might not be “exactly 1 o’clock Eastern Standard Time,” but 1:00:04 or so.