William C. Borrett
Nova Scotian radio pioneer and author (1894–1983)
William Coates Borrett (April 24, 1894 – 1983) was an author, radio broadcasting pioneer, and member of the Canadian Expeditionary Force in World War I. On June 7, 1917, he married at the age of 23 to 28-year-old Muriel Hazel Bauld in Halifax, Nova Scotia. His marriage certificate lists him as a member of the Church of England and his occupation as a military officer. He founded Nova Scotia's first radio station, CHNS-FM on May 12, 1926, which was broadcast from the Carleton Hotel in Halifax. For more than 18 years his station aired a series called "Tales Told Under the Old Town Clock" which featured stories about Nova Scotia's history. In 1942, he published these stories through Ryerson Press under the same name. On August 14, 1950, at a reception to mark 201 years since the founding of Halifax, Borrett was awarded a medallion for his historical books and radio program that preserved Nova Scotia and Halifax history.
Relationship with Hank Snow
In 1933 while Borrett was the managing director of CHNS-FM, a young Hank Snow sent a letter to the radio station seeking an audition. On March 14, 1933, Borrett responded to Snow in a letter, informing the singer that the artists who performed on his station were paid by the sponsors of the station's programs and that he would not be able to offer Snow an audition unless a sponsor requested him. Reluctant to accept this response, Snow gathered savings and traveled to Halifax, contacting the station while there. He was given an appointment to meet Borrett, but was instead met by Cecil Landry, the station engineer and announcer for CHNS, who gave him an audition on the spot.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “William C. Borrett” as nova Scotian radio pioneer and author (1894–1983). Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
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Chronology provides the most reliable spine for this subject; interpretation should follow only after identities and dates are secure. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q109772530. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1894, 1983, 1917 and 1926.
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This entry incorporates text from “William C. Borrett” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.