family, and the household. Women were encouraged to accompany their husbands to meetings, and certain broadcasts were specifically devoted to "women's issues", including titles such as: "Farm Women in Public Life", "More Attractive Homesteads", and "The Teacher in the Community". Content was delivered in a variety of formats. Early broadcasts made heavy use of dramatizations, with actors playing neighbours on the fictional "Sunnybridge Farm", who would discuss the pros and cons of the week's topic. The show also used panel discussions, speeches, and interviews. Decline The National Farm Radio Forum reached its height of popularity around 1949 with over 1,600 registered groups. Following this peak, the number of groups began to fall at a rate of around 100–150 per year, reaching around 500 in 1958, and 230 in 1965, the program's final year. The show's decline has been attributed to the contemporaneous decline in Canada's rural population, the displacement of family farms by big business agriculture, and the diverging aims of the three organizations behind the Forum (the CAAE, CBC and CFA). The program went off the air on April 30 1965. Legacy The show's success inspired a study commission by UNESCO, which resulted in a detailed and complimentary report published in 1954. Though not the first of its kind, the show served as a model for similar community listening groups in countries such as India, Ghana, and France. A number of founding National Farm Radio Forum went on to form Farm Radio Forum International in 1979, a non-profit dedicated to promulgating the format internationally. The Farm Radio Forum was praised for spurring thousands of "Action Projects" across communities. Examples included co-operative hospitalization schemes, fighting insect infestations, extending telephone service, and the creation of cooperative enterprises, such as credit unions, creameries, and mutual fire insurance. In 2009, the Forum was designated as a National Historic Event for "pioneer[ing] interactive distance education". References CBC Radio programs 1941 radio programme debuts Events of National Historic Significance (Canada)