Canadian Talent Library Trust

Canadian Talent Library Trust

Canadian Talent Library Trust (CTL). A non-profit trust that produced a major series of recordings 1962-85 by Canadian artists and of Canadian compositions. It was conceived by Lyman Potts and initiated by the Standard Broadcasting Corporation-owned radio stations CFRB (Toronto) and CJAD (Montreal). Potts, a broadcast executive, was director of the CTL 1962-78, followed 1978-85 by Jackie Rae. Its offices were located in Toronto.

Initially the CTL distributed its recordings only to subscribing broadcast stations, but in 1966, with its 80th project, it began leasing its masters for commercial release to RCA, Columbia (Sony), Capitol, GRT, Quality, United Artists, and Intercan. Its productions typically comprised popular and light classical music in formats suitable for AM broadcast (ie, brief performances in an 'easy-listening' or 'middle-of-the-road' style). When in 1970 the CRTC introduced its regulations requiring the increased use, on radio, of music composed and/or performed by Canadians, the CTL assumed fresh significance as a ready source of such material.

Its roster included Tommy Ambrose, Peter Appleyard, John Arpin, the singer Keath Barrie, Ed Bickert, the Boss Brass (originally formed for a CTL recording), the Laurie Bower Singers, Ron Collier, the clarinetist Henry Cuesta, Trump Davidson, Maureen Forrester, the singers Cecile Frenette, Vic Franklyn, and Paul Hahn, the Hamilton Philharmonic, the Hart House Orchestra, the singer Sheree Jeacocke, Yves Lapierre, the trombonist Ted Roderman, the Spitfire Band, William Stevens, Don Thompson, and several orchestras and choirs under the direction of Johnny Burt, who served 1962-72 as the CTL's music director. By 1985, when the CTL was merged with FACTOR and ceased production, it had released 268 LPs.