Radio, like the telephone, is one of the great marvels of the electronic era. Enemy of the dictator. Friend to the housebound. Stats Canada released a report yesterday detailing the boom that private radio in Canada is experiencing. Even AM is breaking out:

The performance of AM stations paled by comparison. Their air time sales grew by a more modest 4.5%, and their profit margin was a mere 1.6%. Modest as they may appear, the 2003 results represent a significant turnaround for AM radio. This segment of the industry has sustained losses before interest and taxes every year since 1990. Air time sales by AM stations declined every year during that period with the exception of 1997 and 1998.

In other StatsCan news, the figures for sawmills and planing mills for April are in.