CBC Radio Nerdz VIII

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She's been instructed to try to bring Barbara's humour to the program...poor woman.

Some right-wing anti-Arab bigot was just on Day Six, heaping criticism upon the UN for the Security Council vote.  I was so mad I felt like sending off a sternly-worded letter to the CBC.  Then Brent Bambury came on and said that the yahoo was Ezra Levant.

OK, that makes sense.

[Should there be a "Pro-Zionist media bias/CBC Radio nerds" thread?]

i heard that too. Ezrah Levant. nazipooh and loudmouth snake oil salesman!  Brent banbury ENCOURAGES us to visit the program website, to 'comment' pro or con, he says, as if the hits aint the main idea ( he sure doesn't gives a flying frick about what anybody thinks)...john bolton is ALWAYS on jon oakley, the am640 morning skinhead host, to succor the mindless idiots who listen to jon oakley/stafford/doyle etc. Btw, Mike Bullard is on CFRB at noon (Beyond the Mike)  and he is a breath of fresh air! Will wonders never cease! He had Carolyn Parrish on last week to comment on the mayor hazel bs the rest of media somehow overlooks! I fear telling steve kouch, 'RB program director, that Mike is a step in right direction as ...well, reactionaries are truly vicious, and Mike Bullard seems to like twisting the skinheads' tails! The contempt between him and reactionary aftnoon host jim richards almost grabs throats! For example, Mike said richards has the 'sweetest ass at the station' when richards was leaving the  onair booth after doing the show intro interview! ...shades of fallen talkradio hero Alan Berg! (maybe also a reference to the Family Guy Peter Griffin(!)?)

hahaha! take that, ya skinhead bastards!

Neat read here on the overall CBC operations, Stursberg, etc. 

Interesting to note the almost total emphasis on CBC TV and just a few offhand comments on Ceeb Radio 1, which is clearly still capable of servicing its mandate even though we hack on it constantly.

Couple of trends of note that Rabinovitch is, I think, totally correct in pointing out: CBC sports is toast, and TV newscasts are not long for the screens, especially a big daily and mostly pointless program like The National, which must costs scads of money to produce each day. 

Why not adopt the radio format for TV?  Put CBC News Network on the channels, and break it up with hourly newscasts from your particular region.  Consolidate the operations, because I don't think there's any justification for big splashy newscasts anymore, especially ones that are reliant upon stories not sourced locally.

And this sounds mean, but oh well....  Axe the dinosaurs in front of and behind the cameras and microphones.  Pension them off, force them into retirement unless they have really good skillsets.  Turn them into trainers, or unleash them on the colleges and universities as teachers.  Let them retire to fat PR paychecks.   

Thorin (or anyone else outside TO chime in) what're the Windsor TV casts like?  I have never, ever, watched a regional CBC newscast so I have no clue what they're like.

Here's the link:

 http://tinyurl.com/RabinovitchSeesTheEnd

The Chretien Libs knocking 450 mil off the budget couldn't have helped his CBC tenure much.

There's no chance that the CBC budget will increase.  Not through parliament. 

The people running the Ceeb are going to have to design a new template.  Reading the Rabinovitch interview gives me a good idea of where the Ceeb is heading whether it wants to or not - reduced TV programming in news and current affairs, no sports, radio remaining more or less the same if not enhanced, plus probably more straight to the net media.  More radio on TV.

Notice lately that the audio on As It Happens has been clear?  Skype.  The show will still do phone interviews to retain the classic sound (and not everyone they want to talk to will have net\skype) but AIH is a good indication of how the Ceeb will tweak radio to make it stronger and more video friendly. 

Now they just need to get rid of Ambrose. 

I've always been puzzled by the CBC in our general area, Thorin.  It makes more sense, to me at least, to consolidate the London and Windsor operations into one bureau covering London to Windsor (if Woodstock\Brantford is added, that's probably more than a million people).  Keep the current people in London, but add a camera operator\editor and file TV for Windsor casts, and pull London content into the Windsor morning radio show and newscasts (is there an afternoon show from Windsor radio?).

But I can see why this won't happen: some Ceebers in Toronto would either have to move to Windsor or lose their jobs creating the rather dull and lifeless Ontario Morning, with its absurd coverage mandate.

I was SO pissed at the CBC on municipal election night.  Obviously there was no coverage of London and surrounding areas, but my local 93.5 Ceeb station, which carries Toronto's afternoon show Here and Now and a lot of other Toronto coverage.... did NOT run the TO election coverage!  They did the usual and replayed The Current and other assorted programs.  So in this area we get to listen to Toronto programming for the afternoon but not when an election is happening.  Wonderful work to the programming morons at Fort Dork.

That's what I'm getting at: consolidate London and Windsor (but keep the broadcasting ops running in Windsor) to make both better and perhaps draw attention back to the Ceeb, especially radio, as a medium where news and information is discussed rationally and balanced.

London has much more in common with Windsor than Toronto.  The London region, St Thomas etc, is similar in makeup to Windsor.  It makes sense to me to combine the two operations, but with the bureau remaining in Windsor.  There's no reason for the silo treatment, and it does a disservice to the Ceeb's mandate. 

Combining the two operations would also strengthen the case for not dropping either.  London used to have a radio department of seven or eight people.  There used to be a St Thomas producer.  Now there are two news people and one part time London producer contributing to a show that's created in Toronto.  I'd much rather have the scant Ceeb resources go to supporting a London presence in Windsor than slopping more TO schlubs on the airwaves.

Back to radio.  The Rob Ford interview on AIH was a classic.  I think Off was provoking him, but whatever.  I don't think Ford is going to lose a lot of sleep over the CBC, and he'll probably be happy to join the ranks of people slamming the Ceeb.

And it looks like Ambrose is a fixture on AIH.  Sigh.  She's getting better....? 

Michael Enright is reporting on the Teaparty movement all of this morning out of Gainesville (Gaynesville?) Florida.

What one hears is an attack on liberal and socialists and a call for a return to fiscal responsibility and "constitutiional values."

And when Michael points out that Bush outspent them all...yes," we were asleep" :) 

The GAinesville food bank handled 3 million pounds of food last year...probably have to find 4 million this year...somewhere.

I heard some of that interview. At one point, while trying to justify invading Iraq by saying Iraqis were still shooting at murricans, she actually said "duh" - and not ironically - in the middle of her sputtering diatribe.

I constantly hear ads for Propaganada and where you can buy previous seasons...yet its the only show I know you can do that, wiretap-no, ideas-no, even stewart macleans show only has compilation cds and not whole seasons. I seriously hear that horrid theme music so often I want to trun off the CBC, but its the onlyt canadian channel that covers national news down here. The old big 8 channel CKLW AM 800 is just a chum subsidy that flogs the cons at all time that they don't have advertising on.

Am I missing ads on CBC for other shows because they don't happen or because I hate that song for Afghanada and notice it more.

Enright next interviewed people involved in the Quiet Revolution and its development, representing the arts, academe and politics.

Eighty year old Jacques Parizeau was interviewed by phone from his home in Montreal...and listeners learned that the young economics grad (London School of Economics) was phoned on a Sunday morning in 1961 by Rene Levesque with the assignment (he was given three of four days) to estimate the cost of nationalizing hydro in Quebec.  Bankers in Montreal and Toronto were not about to ante up, so the money was found in New York.

The age of Globalization has complicated things, he says, but still believes that the goal of separatists is realizeable.  There are still too many workers in Quebec in the $20,000 to $30,000 income range...

In the third hour, Enright looks at the Yukon gold rush of the late 1890s and the characters that have come down to us through history.

Tarek Fatah does evening show with cfrb reactionarky knuckledragger named 'ron doyle'...he use to be on with afternoon chump mike ('we defenseless west/israel MUST use nukes on IRAN asap or we'll be very sorry!' -TO.Sun/2006!) coren until coren got let go. Coren once wrote bits for the afflict-the-comfortable 'Frank' magazine fyi! Mister Fatah can't have many muslim friends- he literally calls the religion a monstrosity of pure evil- intent on enslaving everybody to a crude and impractical prophet of a biker type god. His success, despite the obvious pandering to some murderously capable forces (US/Israel/Canada fascism) seem too much a stretch, but he is a voice of 'the other'in a skinhead media. And that's his job. ISLAM is needed by the military industrial complex (fascism)  we spend such insane sums on to secure our safety. W/out ISLAM, the enemy would be....ahem, poor lil 3rd world entities like Cuba, Venezuela, Iran, N Korea- and maybe Syria if one wants them to sound greater. China isn't poor lil 3rd world, and only serves the MIC as enemy in a too highly speculative fashion; sorta nudge wink, and that won't do! We need provable ENEMIES who are at work fighting against us, (toronto 18, shoebomber, times square blastic cap guy etc) and THEM planning horrors only Hollywood can really portray (ie mushroom clouds, anyone?) ...never mind that the State of New York has larger military budget then Cuba, iran, Venezuela and NKorea combined!  The need for an enemy is so great the CSIS might very well allow turbaned crazies to sit on the NATSEC oversight committee boards- why not? they can't do anything, and it gives the critics of western liberalism an excuse to point at how all our tough guys are terrified of being called racists! And handcuffed by the laws...

Well done Tarek. hahaha

btw, sorry about dissing Jeffrey Simpson. He is so much the George Will style that lumping him in with rightwing seems on automatic -and i haven't seen that much of Simpson since the impeach clinton days...plus i don't use or consume the bush crap they call newspapers anymore

I agree with you, Thorin-bane. While I'm sure Enright and team think of themselves as serious small-l liberals, I find the show right-leaning both in Enright's line of questioning and in the choice of guests on the show (although that's often the producer's choice, not the host's). Political perception in Canada has shifted moved so far right that even those on the centre-right such as Enright are perceived by the public -- and think of themselves -- as progressive.  A deplorable situation. For a couple of years there, Enright seemed to do nothing but interview dinosaurs such as Margaret Macmillan, Barry Cooper, Preston Manning, etc. ad nauseum, and, looking like abject dummies, the show's team completely missed the looming economic crash of 2008, which it had been warned about well in advance by such listeners as myself. I often have had to turn my radio off in dismay.

If the small-c conservative public thinks programming on CBC such as "Sunday Morning" is so damned "liberal", one should ask why intellectual and vanguard documentarists/writers/activists/intelligentsia such as Pilger, Pinter (now of course dead), Chomsky, Paul Roberts, Catherine Austin Fitz, Tariq Ali, Nader, Hedges, Heinberg, Naomi Klein, Le Carre, Parenti, etc. -- not to mention the plethora of lesser-known but socially-aware and environmentally-committed unionists and academics from universities and left-wing think tanks across North America -- are rarely or never heard.

- actually, the reverse of that is the case - trying to deny the general center-right stance of the CBC these days, with no real exceptions including Enright, would indidate the ignorance of most Cdns these days as to just how far to the right the entire political debate has been pushed these last 30 years. It's been a slow but steady decline for formerly center-left sorts like the CBC, but at some point during the last 10-15 years or so they definitely and completely crossed the line. Enright was kind of a living god in his days with Alan Maitland on As It Happens in the 70s and early 80s - but he seems stuck in those days, whilst the world has changed around him without him really realising it from his upper-managerial position. I wouldn't speak against him, he does indeed do a lot of good stuff still on his show - but I wouldn't speak for him anymore either, in terms of current relevance concerning anything really important. He seems to have a kind of touching belief that things today are as they were 30 years ago, in terms of the integrity of the system in general, which is simply not the case anymore. And he is not above some pretty shallow promotion of rightwing/neocon positions - I couldn't believe it last year or whenever it was the Ontario referendum was on PR when I heard him saying it was 'too difficult' for him to understand. He is not that stupid, there's nothing complicated about the idea of a party getting X% ov the vote getting X% of the seats, as opposed to the completely out-of-whack results FPTP gives us, so it was obvious he was shilling for somebody6.

And aside from that, outwest's final paragraph is the cruncher - why not deal with this, GV?:

"...If the small-c conservative public thinks programming on CBC such as "Sunday Morning" is so damned "liberal", one should ask why intellectual and vanguard documentarists/writers/activists/intelligentsia such as Pilger, Pinter (now of course dead), Chomsky, Paul Roberts, Catherine Austin Fitz, Tariq Ali, Nader, Hedges, Heinberg, Naomi Klein, Le Carre, Parenti, etc. -- not to mention the plethora of lesser-known but socially-aware and environmentally-committed unionists and academics from universities and left-wing think tanks across North America -- are rarely or never heard..."

Where are the *real* lefties and progressives such as these, GV, who really speak for the people, on the "lefty" CBC these days? Almost never to be heard, and the rare time one of them does get a bit of time, it's either very controlled or the interviewer is very hostile to ensure no discordant words disturb the passive Cdn from their belief in how great we are.

Enright is ok in his own limited way, but he is no longer relevant in terms of progressivism of any sort.

And believe me, I say that with regret and sadness.

George, asking me to suffer through entire interviews with guests I've heard before and whom I consider to be shallow, illogical, and/or dishonest thinkers is akin to asking you to listen to hate-mongerers and jingoists on your favorite right-wing talk radio station in the name of "fairness" and being able to "judge them competently." I might do it once in a while to keep abreast of what the other side is saying, and usually listen to the whole interview of anyone new, but I won't do it every single day. I've lived long enough to know when I'm listening to a crock or not.

More importantly, my point is that Enright comes across as smooth-tongued progressive, but all too often his chosen guests foist what I consider to be regressive ideology on listeners, thus creating yet another obstacle to helping educate the citizenry. (I will say, however, that since the onset of the recession, his show has been improving somewhat. Perhaps his producers decided they made themselves look pretty foolish with guests who didn't have a clue what was happening when TSHTF.)

"Enright is ok in his own limited way, but he is no longer relevant in terms of progressivism of any sort."

Progressivism, used as a catchall and increasingly meaningless concept - divorced from anything that the general public would understand, let alone appreciate - marks the descent of communication among "progressives" into pure prattle.

kathleen, I still love Ideas for the most part. But I was seriously disgusted that they invited Margaret Somerville to do a Massey Lecture.

LL I agree I mena we could probably spit out dozens of examples with little effort. One of the biggest issues is the frozen budget. It was froze since the 90s and the big difference is the websites. Which means they need eyeballs going there for whatever ad revenue they generate off the web to help offset its costs. Sharing the budgets between so many mediums is really hurting them. TV/Radio/Net and both languages is a lot to strech out.

And commercials...holy cow. I think the CRTC must have changed the amount of commercials allowed on TV for all stations. What ever happened to the concept of pay TV so you have few commercials. It is actualy backwards to that now.

Radio was the last bastion of balance on the CBC and that is all but gone. Check out The House with Ms Petty or Chris Hall(who I considered on the right when it was don newmans politics show on newsworld) who are now called the left? What universe did I wake up in?

And Q continues on...Not like its that bad, just kinda dull. I really miss Northern Lights with Andrea Ratouski. Could get my classical fix without trying to find CBC radio 2(which plays a lot of jazz anyways or did)

Anna Maria Tremonti kind of lost it this morning on The Current. She practically barked at her interview guest, Omar Jamal. He is the First Secretary with Somalia's Mission to the United Nations.

http://www.cbc.ca/thecurrent/episode/2010/11/17/nov-1710---pt-3-piracy-t...

Coupland said he would never read a novel that didn't have a telephone in it.  And CBC gives him a Massey Lecture.  On a par with cutting classical music out of the broadcast repertory.  Thank God for NPR internet streaming (check out KUSC).

Coupland also wrote the Marshall McLuhan entry for the Penguin's Extraordinary Canadian series.  It was basically juvenile drivel.  From what, a 45 year old man (how old is Coupland)?  There were pages and pages in the book that were nothing more than the results of running the words "Marshall McLuhan" through an internet anagram generator.  I kid you not.

Carol Off is about to interview Liz May in Cancun...who will explain, apparently, why Canada is again rated the dreck.

So, all that nonsense about needing to show Budd the door so that they could replace her with a journalist wasn't true? I'm shocked.

Whata fucking crock of shit! Time for a bring back Budd movement.

I'm a big fan of the show.  I was never nuts for either Off or Budd, but if I had to choose I'd ditch the former not the latter.  I'm open to the new guy.

As an unabashed nostalgic, I like the predictability of AIH.  I must say, however, that the show is likely in need of an update beyond a new host.  The show, its format, and its writing (in particular) are sounding very tired.  This likely appeals to a majority of its listeners (including me) but I gotta admit it, it's old hat.  It would be interesting to see if there was data on listenership and any trends in that regard.  I wonder how long it will be until it has run its course.

Back in the early 70s when I was 12-13, I used to listen to As it Happens every night after supper, while I did the dishes.   I guess Babs Frum used to appeal to a younger demographic than do the current hosts.

CBC Radio 1 Toronto "the Current" panel is discussing the death of middle class Toronto, the disappearance of a "middle", the growing impoverishment of the burbs. Sociologists. Political scientists, authors.

All explaining why Ford is in the catbird's seat. Leaving us open to further "opportunistic, facile populism."  People have "lost hope" that following generations will be better off.  The sociologists don't get to the reality of the economic change, of course...nothing like Reich and the new capitalism...particularly the investment capital variety. (Sounds a bit like babble, in that regard..  Heck, someone even said that if a country adds 1 per cent to its population each year through immigration, it has to also be more concerned with education and health etc.

But, of course, one must not touch the category immigration.  Gets you suspended , if not banned.

For anyone interested in Canadian political reality. Hear how its about more than the political leaders, U.S. or Canadian.

peter mansbridge is- the term 'interviewing' applies though i sorta considered something more xxx rated! - rex murphy, who had a heart attack and lookled into the abyss and...well both of these publicly funded cheaters should be peddling their butts on mike duffy's old corner (and mansbridge knows mister pig's gonna take care of him re the 'senate' when he abandons ship; though he shure mucked up ian hanomansing when that opinion-less bore was reaching for the brass ring a few years ago (mansbridge spent hours heating it up with a blowtorch, i suspect)

btw, "Frank' magazine was where these two bit media hirelings used to be exposed. I miss Frank magazine, still....maybe we outta start a 'Frank' magazine corner here at Babble to air all the ...for example-  didya KNOW Mike Harris collect $38k month pension from poor taxpayers while golfing with nazipooh buddies in ari-zoner? Or that 300 (plus) under forty years old policemen RETIRE evey year in Canada- and thus get to devote their $50k/year busybodies to advocating for rightwing reactionaries against socialism etc! Or that 911 was inside job? Or that $ tens/millions public funds are used to subsidise rightwing media, or that interest rates are literally TAXES on loans (which puts ursurious rates of the cc companies-run by rightwing goons- in different light), or that vast sums corporate funds are - a never seen before phenomenon- being used IN SECRET to prop up the stock markets despite worldwide disasterous economic indicators crying out for investment in jobs and so on!

Btw, rex looked and sounded like he knew he had sold out the Commons for mister pig- though peter mansbridge was all over the heroic suffering fellow (whose rex said, father was 'my age' in the early 70's more then 35 years ago! My foster dad, injured badly fighting fascism in WW2 , never even saw his 70th birthday...)

I was somewhat enjoying CBC's Season in Song performance on Radio One until they featured freaking Justin Beiber singing a smaltzy song called "Prayer". Yuck!

I am so glad I found this site. Thanks to whomever set it up and links pages together (thorin_bane?)!

So much to say, so starting with the CBC highlight of 2010: Barbara Budd leaves AIH.

This was a huge deal for me, as I sum up my thoughts of her simply as "Smarmy Barbara".  The way she butchered Howden's delicate, playful, and witty humour was atrocious.  Bordering on comedicide.  A real crimedy.  Meh, I'm doing it just thinking about it.

A particularly vivid example for me was her reading O Henry's Xmas tale last year.

It's not that her broadcast voice isn't pleasant, when she's not hamming it up, but I think she was just ... there too long.  And perhaps I began noticing it when Howden began writing, but I'm not sure.

Anyone notice the BC "dream team" drive show hosts this week?

Stephen Quinn from On The Coast is guest-hosting The Early Edition, and Shiral Tobin, programme director of The Early Edition is guest-hosting On The Coast.

Stephen is witty and fun and took On The Coast from a show that was on the radio to a show that one had to listen to.  He was the story of ... whatever year he took over, 2008?

Shiral was a producer for Rafe Mair at CKNW way back.  Her on air personality is absolutely delightful to listen to.  Her vocal inflections are playful and I just find them utterly & ticklish.

Honourable mention to Matthew Lazen-Rider, producer with OTC who sat in the big chair one day this week.  He could also host his own show quite competently.

So, in summary, fire Rick Cluff and give his AM drive show to Shiral Tobin.  Win for listeners, win for CBC.

I could do a whole post just on my thoughts about Cluff, whom I think is trying for Larger than Life, but ends up, similar to Budd, as self-caricature.  Like Budd, I think he's just ... been around too long.

He's not bad with election night coverage, and his afternoon compilation of regional stories (The Word from Here?) is okay too.

Welcome to babble, remember to look at the policy lest you step on the wrong toes. We all try to keep things in a coherant order of some kind, but a lot of threads are throw aways or repeats so not all of them are as neatly catalogued as the CBC nerdz thread.

I try to practice decent neticate when possible. For Example when I link to another site, I like to take a paragraph or two and paste it here. Then use the quote function(BTW babble is sometimes goofy for functions) or Bold to make it known that is the snippet. Then comment back in regular font. Of course not everyone has to do that. I just find it better so people have an idea of what the link is for, and a snippet is sometimes good enough for deciding if its worth your time at the link or to continue the discussion here. For example the polling threads. Most people don't need to use the link with the numbers right there.

You may know all of this already, or have your own style that works. Anyway welcome aboard. Hopefully you find interesting conversation.

Broke?

Desperately broke?

Michael Enright  this morning interviewed the first historian to win the "Nobel of the Humanities" :

Decentered history is one of Holberg Prize Laureate Natalie Zemon Davis's main interests. In a long series of books, such as Fiction in the Archives (1987), ...

The delightful 82-year-old, who, persecuted like her husand in the age of McCarthy, joined her husband and became a Canadian citizen after several years of teaching in the U.S. She's already given the bulk of the $800,000 prize to organizations in need.

Well I heard a new Ad for a crappyy new show. "Backbencher" All I know is I heard a woman yelling at the opposition bench being a bunch of treehuggers. This should go over well. They have destroyed CBC TV and are now going to finish the job they started on Radio 1. More docu-drivel on the radio...gee just what I asked santa for. Oh wait I asked for substantive news and less infotainment. I guess it was bizarro santa that got my message.

I was depressed hearing the ad and knowing the CBC is cricling the drain. It wouldn't take much for Harper to get his wish and see the CBC gutted. Those of us who use to support it can no longer recognize it as worth saving...damned if we do damned if don't. Save it and it becomes more of a propaganada arm, lose it and we will never have even a remotely central voice left in canada just corporate right wing lies and fluff.

Isn't Backbencher written by Wendy Lill, former NDP MP?

http://www.cbc.ca/backbencher/

In Backbencher we follow the story of Nellie Gordon, a paramedic from East Nova in Nova Scotia who decides to run for MP on a whim and, much to everyone's surprise, gets elected. We go into caucus meetings, the hallways of Parliament and the House of Commons itself and experience it all from Nellie's perspective each and every episode.

Life as an MP is a physical, mental and ethical workout -- every day. And that's what this series is about, a view from the backbenches of the House of Commons; one woman's journey through the snake pit of Canadian politics.

Backbencher is written by Wendy Lill, the award winning Canadian playwright and two-term MP from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. Script Editor for the series is Dave Carley.  The show is produced in CBC Halifax by Recording Engineer Pat Martin, Associate Producer Maggie Rahr and the Producer is Peggy Hemsworth. The Executive Producer is Tom Anniko.

Didn't like the ad...I might give it a try,

I only caught about 20 minutes if that of AIH, near the end. Sounded good but I guess I should catch a full episode before I weigh in on Jeff Douglas.

11:30 a.m. I can hardly wait, Scott.

I didn't know it had gone. I hope 11:30am means our region too. I never got to hear it at either of its other times.

Backbencher has been running for a while now, hasn't it? I find myself listening in when I hit upon it despite the show's obvious desire to define the word "feisty".

I thought they'd be airing new episodes of Backbencher, but they are just repeating the first set of episodes.

I don't know much about Kristine Stewart but her name seems familiar. Was she involved with private broadcasting? I  don't know why, but I keep thinking news when I hear her name.

ETA: correction on name

Kristine Stewart was known as Kristine Layfield when she first joined the CBC some years back. She was previously head of lifestyle programming (read "developer of reality shows") for Alliance Atlantis -- and yes, that fact does indeed help one to understand some of the direction CBC programming has taken in recent years.

Age of Persuasion just doesn't grab me.  I find the show repetitive.  It is very slickly produced, and more CBC shows should be paying attention to the way the show is put together.  Lots of sound, a emphasis on storytelling.  I think CBC Radio has gotten away from using sound in its non-news\current affairs shows.  A show like Spark, for instance, is just a boring talk show basically about the internet.  

Strombo, progressive?  Eeep.  Just because he wears eyeliner doesn't make him progressive, heh.  A friend of mine went to see his show being taped.  After the show was done, Strombo gave out prizes if people could answer questions about him: What's the name of my pet?  

Puke.  Get some more Cdn guests on your Cdn produced and funded show George, and I'll give you a chance.  An intimate interview with Hulk Hogan doesn't cut it for me.

Whoa, Thorin, an entire post about the CBC and not one mention of Evan Solomon?  Developing a soft spot?

Lifestyle programming...  I love that term, and thanks for the heads up asterix.  

Dragon's Den is a rip off from a BBC show, I believe.  I don't watch it, but I was at one of their pre-production events in London.  A crew came in and put a rather large group of prospective business people through a mock-trial.  It was really neat, and the people who came forward with ideas were engaged people, an oddball collection of inventors and space cadets.  

O'Leary is genuinely annoying.  He's now invading the radio, too, with some very bland investing and business tips.  I think O'Leary is a pretty decent interviewer the few times I've watched LandL Exchange.  He's snide with pols and businesspeople alike, and the Ceeb could occasionally use some attitude.

Not sure why chomsky didn't make that list because I remember him being on via satellite. George Galloway has been on more than once. I know he did one on sat from the US, and was recently in studio.

I was mildly shocked last night while listening to the presenter on the 6:00 news say, among other criticisms,  that Sarah Palin's "blood libel" comments had "sullied" the day of memorial for the victims of the Tucson shootings. 

Just turned it on. Thanks, Scott.

I hate to say it, but what you are saying makes no sense whatsoever.

Ken Nordine turns 90 and his work is reviewed on Sunday morning's last hour:

Listening to Jack Kerouac doing "Western Movies"

Ritual Bonfire,Williams Bay Wisconsin

 I don't know about that guy saying that Kerouac wanted to be a jazz musician. Ti Jean always thought of himself as a writer.

Pollyanna Tremonti did her best Bob and Ray impression this morning, turning a discussion about Nietzsche into the Komodo Dragon Sketch.  It was as if she couldn't accept the interviewee's answers and had to keep repeating her questions.

Hubert Lacroix has announced a five-year plan for the CBC that will be more Canadian, and as the Globe's John Doyle notes, "the CBC is identified as a public broadcaster in the opening sentence of the corporation's news release...(which) hasn't been a CBC thing for anumber of years." A lot of American programming will be exchanged for Canadian.

And for the first time in 20 years there's talk of expansion, regionally, "giving some CBC regional offices new equipment to deliver radio, TV and digital programming. The CBC will also create 'micro' news websites for large communities, the example the large Montreal suburb of Longueuil. Hamilton is another city under consideration for local coverage on the Internet."

As Doyle writes: "Under Richard Stursberg's leadership, CBC TV walked away from culture..." 

"The precariousness of the CBC's value as a public broadcaster and cultural institution has been clear for some time. It has divided, not united, Canadians. And nothing in the new plan is going to stop those droning voices calling for the CBC to be shut down because it costs money, it is left-wing and David Suzuki is an environmentalist. To those people, it doesn't matter that the CBC gets a pittance compared with the support other countries offer to their public broadcasters. But the CBC has given those voices too much ammunition in recent years. Now, it plans to do something that can be defended. To save its own life."