artichokes and cbc for everyone

CBC Radio’s eight-part documentary/music show The Wire: The Impact of Electricity on Music won a George Foster Peabody Award.

The honour, which recognizes excellence in news and entertainment, was also given to a Radio-Canada radio report on the Inuit and global warming entitled What if Winter Never Comes?

— cbc story

All I really know about the Peabody award is that it’s always preceded with the word “prestigious”, and that O’Reilly has not been on a program that won the award but that Colbert has. Anyways, ‘the wire’ was really amazing. I need to locate a copy of it, hopefully with the award they’ll rerun it soon.

Normally listening to the CBC makes me happy…

I’ve been a dedicated listener to the CBC for awhile now, and rarely does the content on the CBC make me angry. In the past I’ve heard songs, interviews, and documentaries that are ‘lame’, boring, strange or ‘uncool’. When Bill Richardson used to play polka on the Roundup I could usually shrug my shoulders and say “only on the CBC”.

WHO THOUGHT CANCELLING THE NATIONAL PLAYLIST WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA!!!

I’M SO ANGRY!!

I’m not really angry… I’m actually laughing. It all just seems so ridiculous! FOR ONCE the CBC created a show that inspired my friends to call me up and say, “Wow, I heard this awesome show on the CBC (The National Playlist). You were right. The CBC does play some interesting stuff. I’m going to start listening more often.” (I’m not lying, I really had friends call and say this - 2 friends)

I’m starting to think that Ivory Tower at CBC doesn’t actually want younger listeners… it must be part of some crazy plan to self-destruct. Next thing you know, the National Playlist will have moved to Satellite Radio (I CAN’T AFFORD RADIO THREE!!)

My email to the CBC National Playlist:

Why is the National Playlist being removed from the lineup in April?

Why is Freestyle still on the air and not TNP?

Who is running the CBC?

The response:

Hello Kari,

Thanks for your e-mail and pointed questions.

As part of the ongoing process of developing and defining what R1
should feel and sound like, TNP has come to the end of it’s run on R1.
If you have any more questions or comments, please e-mail audience
relations at relatioA@toronto.cbc.ca .

The TNP team will miss the show too, especially our interaction with
listeners like you. Thanks again for your e-mail!

On behalf of the TNP team,

Thanks for Listening.

So, it sounds like this is the National Playlist’s last week, and yet I can’t seem to find out the reason. Of all the new programming changes last fall, the National Playlist is the only one I have a fondness for. It introduced me to new music, it gave me a more indepth knowledge about canadian bands, it was an interesting format, it was full of people who actually cared about their music, and for those of you were annoyed by a lot of the music.. at least it was only half an hour long. I ‘thought’ I heard Jian announce it last friday, and today it was confirmed. It seems sudden. Did it get canned? Did Jian get stolen away by another project? Did someone with power get outrageously offended when Neil Young finally dropped off that list? What will replace it?

I love how what I hear on CBC so often corresponds with my life… like right now, I’m spending this cool grey Saturday afternoon writing out 50 different recipes that will get me and my traveling companions through our 100+ day journey down the Yukon River, while I’m listening to Sook Yin Lee talk to folks in Whitehorse about food in the Yukon.

Aaron and I started this blog because we were frustrated with the new programming on weekday afternoons. Nothing has really changed since we started this blog, although, I think they are playing slightly less music during Freestyle, there are semi-legitimate interviews, and with practice, the banter has improved (slightly). So, in conclusion, Freestyle is better than it was when it started, but I still don’t like it. Without presenting any radical changes to the weekday format, here is my proposal for dealing with Freestyle.

Weekday programming for CBC Toronto

6 am to 8:30 am – Metro Morning
8:30 am to 10:00 am – The Current
10:00 am to 12:00 pm – Sounds like Canada (without the Playlist)
12:00 pm to 2:00 pm – Ontario Today
2:00 pm to 3:00 pm – The National Playlist (extended to include interviews with artists on the list)
3:00 pm to 6:00 pm – Here and Now (Drive Home Program)
and so on… with the regular schedule

So, when I mentioned “dealing with Freestyle”, what I meant was “removing it from CBC Radio 1”. Perhaps Kelly Ryan could try a stint hosting As it Happens… Cameron’s references to The Simpsons might be better used on Go or perhaps not used at all.

I generally like the programming on CBC and I’m not looking for a big change. I know that the point of the shuffle was to find new, younger listeners during the weekdays, but I really don’t think that will ever happen and that the best way to find younger listeners is through a FREE broadcast of Radio 3.

Do you have an idea for new programming? Feel free to post your ideas. There are no limits… make believe that the Alliance didn’t just win the election and platform that won was based on the promise of better funding for the CBC.

Don Mckellar has a new program on Saturday mornings at 11 called ‘High-Definition’. From the cbc site: “It’s a new show that explores our relationship with popular television and what it says about the wider world around us. ” I’ve always enjoyed Don Mckellar and especially his take on television.

One of my favourite TV programs of all time, is an all-too-short-lived series that appeared in 1998 and 2000 on CBC television called ‘Twitch City’. One Australian television critic actually called it the best television show ever made. It was written by Don Mckellar and directed by Bruce Mcdonald (hardcore logo, highway 61, etc). It centered around ‘Curtis’ (Mckellar) who sat around in his appartment in Kensington market watching talk shows, annoying his housemate, and finding ways to get things done/earn money without ever having to leave the confines of his appartment. (Sounds a bit familiar).

I’ve been pestering CBC for ages to release it on DVD, but unfortunately have never received a response.

Luckily, right now the first season has been posted on a bittorrent/filesharing site called mininova. Hopefully I don’t get into trouble for posting this, but the show’s too good to pass up: http://www.mininova.org/tor/170055.

It’s a poor copy, probably ripped off vhs, but it’ll have to do until there’s a legitimate source.

Aaron and I were driving home from visiting a mutual friend on Sunday and we were talking about the trip I’m taking this summer (I’m rafting the Yukon River). Somehow the idea of doing a CBC talkumentary came up and on a whim I decided to send a pitch to Outfront. I wrote the pitch that evening and sent it out before I could change my mind. Perhaps, a bit more time working on my pitch would have warranted a better result? Nevertheless, I enjoyed writing it, and am more excited to leave for the Yukon than I was before. The trip is still several months away, but for anyone who is interested, I imagine that I will set up some sort of blog and our trip’s website should be up in the next month or so. You can email me krjohnst [at] gmail.com if you’d like more information.

I am quite impressed with how quickly the response came (4 days).

The response from Outfront is first and is followed by my pitch.

—–
Hi Kari

Thank you for pitching to Outfront. Our producers discussed your pitch
at our last editorial meeting, and they do not feel that it suits our
show. We look for stories of a more personal nature.

It sounds like quite a trip though, and one that would easily lend
itself to print and photography. I wish you luck in your journey, and
hope you get the story out there!

Regards,
Outfront Toronto

—-
My name is Kari Johnston. I am 24 years old and I will spend one-third of the year 2006 on a raft. I, and seven people I barely know, will spend four months adrift on the Yukon River this spring/summer. We’ll bide our time waiting for the current of the Yukon River to push us from Whitehorse to the Bering Sea on our home-made raft.

When I graduated from university in April 2006, I thought that I would move back home to Toronto, get a job and work for two years to save up for grad school. My plans changed in November when I received a mass e-mail from Brett Rogers.

Brett Rogers wants to raft all 10 of the longest rivers in the world. The Yukon isn’t one of them, but it will be his final practice trip before he sets out to achieve his goal. I went to university with Brett. We didn’t know each other then, but we had mutual friends.

There are eight of us going on this rafting trip; six men and two women. None of us really know each other and we have no idea whether we’ll like each other. We all hope that we’ll be friends, but by the end of our trip we’ll be more like family. We’re a bunch of southern Ontario kids who will explore Canada/America’s northern frontier together, and we’ll be different people when we return.

Points of Interest:
1. Eight people living on a 40′ x 20′ raft for 4 months.
2. We’ll need 600 pounds of rice.
3. I’ll celebrate my 25th birthday in Dawson City.
4. Everything we need to survive for four months will be invested in our raft - what happens when we hit rapids?
5. There will be bears.

I’d like to document our relationship with our raft. It will be the most important thing we’ll have on that river, and we’ll have built it ourselves. Will it withstand the rapids? Will it have battle scars? How will it change over our four month journey?

When I tell people what I’m doing, they have a hard time conceptualizing what our raft will look like. We’ll cut down trees to make it, but it will float because the platform will sit on row after row of empty oil barrels. There will be a permanent shelter and a fire pit for cooking. We’ll steer with two giant oars off of the back.

I’d like to record stories about our raft. I’ll capture conversations and the sound of us building it. I’ll capture the thrill and panic in our voices as we travel through rapids on it. What does it sound like when we hit rock or a tree? What does a game of 2 on 2 basketball sound like on a raft in the middle of the Yukon River?

I’m really excited about my upcoming adventure and I want to bring others along for the ride.

such a radio voice
he should really have a show
say from one to three?

Sorry Freestyle, that was a little mean. Actually, Kari and I both seem to be finding the show a little less irritating lately. Cameron and Kelly’s banter still gets stuck in my craw, but the information:pop ratio seems to have improved a bit. I still don’t look forward to it, but I’m not reaching for the dial as quickly either.

Every morning I awake to hear at least 2 Liberal ads played on Metro Morning (Toronto) before I get to work. Here’s why (comment taken from CBC questions on the 2004 election):

[http://www.cbc.ca/canadavotes2004/dailyanswer/answerweekone.html]

“The second type of airtime is paid advertising. Under the provisions of the Canada Elections Act, all registered political parties are allocated a maximum amount of advertising time they can buy on each broadcasting station based on a formula that takes into account the number of seats they won in the last election and the number of votes they got. Of course, the parties can choose to buy as much or as little of that allocated time as they want, according to their budgets and strategic plans.

CBC TV accepts advertising all the time, of course. But CBC Radio is also obliged by the Act to accept paid political ads during federal campaigns - it’s the only time the public radio network ever runs paid ads, in fact. Radio show hosts introduce the ads with a statement explaining why they are running, and stressing that all registered parties can take advantage of the same opportunity if they so choose. Not all parties decide to spend their advertising dollars this way, however. For example, during the current campaign, only the NDP has bought advertising on CBC Radio in the Metro Toronto area, although the time is equally available for purchase by all registered parties. “