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 II. When he returned to Canada following the war, he settled in Kirkland Lake, where he purchased the Prince George Hotel, working as joint owner from 1946 to 1948, then owner from 1948 to 1950 and then became ...
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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 II. When he returned to Canada following the war, he settled in Kirkland Lake, where he purchased the Prince George Hotel, working as joint owner from 1946 to 1948, then owner from 1948 to 1950 and then became a radio host for CJKL. He subsequently moved to Timmins and applied for a broadcasting license; CFCL went to air in 1952 as the first French language radio station in Ontario. (The first French-language radio station in Canada outside of Quebec was launched in 1946 in Saint-Boniface, Manitoba.)
In 1956, Lavigne also received a television license. CFCL-TV went to air that year as a dual affiliate of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English and French television networks. Lavigne subsequently added rebroadcast transmitters in several...
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