Beaver hour

The beaver hour is a sarcastic nickname for the programming policies of some Canadian radio stations in the 1970s.

Following the 1971 adoption of Canadian content regulations for Canadian radio, some Canadian radio stations felt, rightly or wrongly, that their audiences did not want to hear Canadian musicians. Accordingly, they would designate certain program blocks in off-peak listening hours, such as early on Sunday mornings, to play almost exclusively Canadian music. This had the effect of reducing the number of Canadian selections that had to be played at other times to meet the Canadian content targets.

The practice was controversial, and gradually faded in the latter half of the decade as Canadian music began to increase in commercial popularity. However, the name is still used on occasion to refer to any practice, such as the scheduling of Canadian television programming, which has the effect of "ghettoizing" Canadian entertainment.