In order to comprehend the use of radios during the 1949 release of the RM-315, one needs to understand the circumstances surrounding the time. World War 1 made use of some radios, however they were extremely bulky at the time, the end of the war marks an era with increased demand for home entertainment products.

Post-1915, there was an industry push for radios to become household objects the same ways phonographs and piano had become ones. ‘Until the end of the 19th century, families gathered in the evening and celebrated with musicians. Two major revolutions in sound technology —the introduction of the sound reproducer at the beginning of the 20th century and the invention of the radio in the 1920s — changed the daily lives of Canadians.’   This article delves deeply into Electrohome and how they shifted from Phonographs to Radios to keep up with what was becoming the defacto entertainment of a typical canadian household.  However, The craze for radio did not truly begin until 1922, there were 39 radio stations in Canada alone. Between 1922 and 1932 the number of stations doubled leading up to 77.

World War 2 ended seven years prior to the publication of the radio we are currently looking at. Consumer radios were prohibited during this period because, according to the government,  ‘The government was out to stop any news or talk that would damage the Allied cause, or make Canadians doubt the war effort.’  This did work in the end as it led to the Allies victory during the war, however, the first true “peacetime radio” was created in 1945 and the radio industry started focusing more on the entertainment aspect found in Radios. 

When the RM-315 radio was introduced in 1952, Canada saw a sharp rise in the number of entertainment radio stations covering a wide range of subjects, including news, sports, game shows, entertainment, and more. After the war, since most Canadians still had radios in their homes and they were becoming more and more popular, there was less of a need for wartime news, which resulted in a shift towards greater entertainment purposes.