The origin of Canada's annual Juno Awards was a 4-by-9-inch ballot that appeared in the Dec. 7, 1964, issue of the Canadian music trade publication RPM Weekly.

It asked the periodical's subscribers "to help RPM pick our year-end notable Canadian artists and industry figures" for a poll called the RPM Gold Leaf Awards.

Topping the poll were Terry Black named as top male singer; Shirley Matthews as top female singer; and Ottawa's Esquires named the top group of the year. Also named were the late Gary Buck as top country male singer; and Vancouver's Pat Hervey as top female country singer.

The awards were the brainchild of RPM Weekly publisher Walt Grealis, a former record company executive, and Toronto record producer Stan Klees who was also the publication's special projects director.

The results were published later that month. The RPM Gold Leaf Awards went on to become an annual feature of the magazine. But there was no formal ceremony, or even actual awards to be presented to winners.

This would change.

The first RPM Gold Leaf Awards held in public were presented to the winners of the December 1969 poll at a reception in Toronto at the St. Lawrence Hall in February 1970. It was Klees who designed the 18-inch metronome-shaped wooden trophy made of solid walnut.

As Grealis later related, "We hired a catering firm and invited about 125 people. We didn't realize that we needed good security at the door and by seven o'clock, 250 people arrived. The food lasted about 20 minutes and then we closed the bar before the liquor ran out."

The first presenter was George Offer, president of Apex Records, who introduced the top female country singer award winner Diane Leigh. As the band played her current hit, I'm A One-Man Woman, Leigh needed a few moments to regain her composure after coming onstage.

In the '60s, American and British teenagers might have been accustomed to their music artists becoming international figures, but there weren't equivalents of Elvis Presley, Cliff Richards or the Beatles in Canada.

Still, there were Canadians who were bona fide stars -- singers Bobby Curtola, Catherine McKinnon, Pat Hervey, Debbie Lori Kaye, and Terry Black -- but mostly on a regional basis.

At the same time, the popularity of the Guess Who, Gordon Lightfoot and Anne Murray in the late '60s became a barometer that the Canadian music industry was changing.

Today, many music industry figures credit the growth of Canadian popular music in the coming years to the introduction of federal government legislation in 1971 that required commercial AM radio stations to play at least 30 per cent Canadian music during the broadcast day.

The immediate result of the regulations was greater exposure and popularity of Canadian talent, and recordings by Canadians including Bachman Turner Overdrive, Rush, Five Man Electrical Band, April Wine, Chilliwack, Lighthouse, Max Webster, Triumph and Trooper.

The regulations also led to a name change for the RPM Gold Leaf Awards. RPM Weekly held a contest in May, 1970 to name the trophies. The winning entry suggested that they be named the Juneau to honour then CRTC chairman Pierre Juneau. The name was shortened to Juno"