CBC Radio Nerdz VII

I'm listening to the Stombo show on Radio 2. 

Why does this show exist?  He just brings on Radio 2 personel, mainly Bob and Terfry, and then chitchats with them.  I don't get it. 

I haven't listened to my local morning show lately, but with tractor season upcoming, I imagine I'll get a good dose.  I don't listen to it otherwise. 

Reminds me to stream Metro Morning next week and listen in on Galloway.  GTAers... how is Galloway doing? 

Apparently David Suzuki is hosting a summer show, The Bottom Line.  I'm hoping for some kind of summer shows this year.

I'm really interested to see who replaces Budd.  I would like to see the show do a similar thing as when Marylou Finley was replaced: have a bunch of people do the job and then announce a winner.  I thought Chris Thomas or Helen Mann would have been better choices than Off, but wasn't my call.

Well I was great tonight.

The Current has been good this week.  Ana Maria broken Guegeris news with an interview this morning with the Ethics comissioner.  Good coverage of the MS convention and MS issues surrounding controversial treatments. 

Apparently, As It Happens is sending out a form letter in response to people complaining about Budd leaving.  I love Budd, but I do understand this is part of a natural process of moving people around.  17 years in that role is a loooong time.

London's Kerry McKee is an awesome newscaster and a great reporter.  I've had the pleasure of meeting her and she is a very cool person. 

I bet for the second year in a row, CBC radio will not have many summer shows.  David Suzuki gets one, apparently, but I'd rather have something new. 

Matt Galloway isn't bad - he's not as chatty as Andy Barrie, and tends to let the people he interviews talk more, which I prefer.  My quibble with him is he likes sports (Andy didn't), and has lots of interviews with sports folks, which is something you get more than enough of on the commercial stations, IMO.

Good to hear from the Metro Morning listener.  I liked Galloway on Here and Now.  I think he's really good. 

He chatted sports on Here and Now, but it clearly wasn't his focus.

Today is Barbara Budd's last day on the job. 
Former host Mary Lou Finlay doesn't sound that happy about it:
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/life/dance+portion+over/2959103/story.html
And did anyone notice a leaked internal poll from the national radio reporters who said they were entirely dissatisfied with the direction of CBC news and their place in the structure?
The Ceeb has been taking hits from all sides, and inside, over its current direction.
And now to the good side: summer is nearing, and that hopefully means Ghomeshi will be taking an extended vacation. What an utter waste of air time for a public broadcaster.

Robert Fisher hosting AIH.  I wasn't in early enough to hear.  Permanent? 

Well, he would certainly save the CBC from Conservative charges of behaving dangerously outside the box of rigidly suppressed thought.

I'm not sure what you mean, GV.  Then again, I have been sniffing diesel fumes all day.

Robert Fisher will never be found guilty of wandering from the news script. But, then, perhaps I should not have listened to Barbara's last program and her final "thank you."  And I was perhaps influenced by Gable's cartoon in the Globe (I think it was the same day) of a Harper "knight" figure, lance raised, thundering down on a CBC target. 

I disagree.  Often Fisher would make comments during his Here and Now newscasts.  In fact, I started an entire CBC Nerdz thread with Fisher's performances on Here and Now. 

He's a newscaster.  They aren't supposed to go "off script".  But he'd make anti-Conservative comments all the time, especially when bantering about business with the business 'caster.

Anyhow, I like Fisher on AIH so far.  He's a little stiff sounding but two days on the job you can't expect him to be a pro and his delivery will never be like Budd's. 

I wonder if AIH will have an unannounced competition, like the one held to replace Mary Lou Finlay.  I still believe Helen Mann and Chris Thomas were better than Off. 

And I just can't figure your fondness for Fisher :)

Michael Enright starts off this morning with two historians commenting on the riddle of the RCMPs "Tommy Douglas File"

I thought Enright's guest at the end was fascinating.  In her discussion about the movies made by M-G-M, she mentioned two good pictures that the company produced following its heyday, Blackboard Jungle and Cabin in the Sky.

Missed it. 

Has anyone listened to Shelagh Rogers' show about writers and books?  I haven't.  I'm stumped as to why CBC Radio has two shows about books.  Writers and Company already existed, so what's up with the Rogers show? 

Maybe it's that Sheilagh has a different time slot...not 3 p.m. Sunday ..and whatever other day for Writers and Company? And books are good any old time.

I agree that chatting about books and writing is great, and works well on the radio.  But I don't like overlapping programming when the Ceeb is clearly scraping by with budgeting, radio especially so. 

Even though I wasn't a huge fan of Outfront, or the Point, or Inside Track, but I'd rathe have them on air than have two shows about books. 

Then there's that little thing about a city like Hamilton not having a reporter\producer.

Pretty good debate today on the Current about coalitions\minority parliaments in Canada, though the presence of E May seemed a little weird.

I don't normally like the drama programs that run at 11:30 am on Thursdays, but I've thoroughly enjoyed all eight episodes of Backbencher, written by former NDP MP Wendy Lill. That's probably mostly because I'm a political geek.

But, I'll start reaching for my off button again next week, when the gawdawful jingoistic explosionfest known as Aghanada (sample dialogue: "Get Down!") returns to the air.

I just heard a succinct summary of the US political system on Sunday Morning.  Riki Ott, A marine toxicologist speaking about the reaction to the oil spill, said, "Obama isn't calling the shots.  BP is calling the shots."

And Obama does not have the answer for stopping oil leaks at a depth of 1 mile?  Whatever is the presidency coming to?  Just heard CBC radio reporting that BP now holds out no hope for stopping it before the second hole is complete...in August. 

That's the point.

BP is in charge of this. That's like putting Bonnie and Clyde in charge of crime prevention. Why isn't the US government more involved?

It's kinda late, but a Saturday Globe story head says the industry "will be operating in a far more regulated and costly environment when exploratory drilling begins again."

Why wasn't the U.S. government more involved in the past?  Well, Halliburton Co. was working on the BP well that blew, if  Bush/Cheney can be substituted for Bonnie and Clyde.  And by golly, Halliburton stock value fell 8 per cent on Friday. And, you know, there is a connection between market valuation and the obscenities that occur south of the 49th...and everywhere else.  Oh, I know, a living, breathing human being like the president is easier to identify as "the enemy".  But that, really, only diverts our attention from where we should be focused, that very, very complex system of investments on which we ALL depend for our inter-connected living.

To paraphrase Kennedy, ask not what your country can do for you...  Obviously, people have never stopped asking just that, and have never begun questioning the source of all that largesse. Blindness prevails. 

As Raj Patel says in his The Value of Nothing":

"But here's the darker part of the story. The people under those governments, you and me, are also part of the market society. There is no position from which, untainted by the world around it, some everlasting truth can guide us to a brighter future...There can be 'community failure' just as there is market failure, in which minorities risk persecution or worse. The recent rise of far-right parties around the world - from India to Europe to the United States - can also be understood as the second part of a double movement. In the United States, Louis R.Andrews, chair of the National Policy Institute - an advocay group for white people - hoped to see 'the Republican Party destroyed, so it can be reborn as a party representing the interests of white people, and not entrenched corporate elites. Which, says Andrews, is why he voted for Obama."

Caught the latest installment of Rewind, Enright's archival program, yesterday. It featured the Stratford Festival: an interview with a charmingly diffident Alec Guinness shortly before he opened the very first festival as Richard III, then on-the-spot interviews with audience members as they emerged from the marquee on opening night. Among them: Sir Ernest Macmillan, Robertson Davies, Lotta Dempsey, and the critic of The Times, who had made the journey from England for the occasion. The old tape radiates high spirits and the audience's sense of being at a privileged moment in history. Also featured: Harry Rasky talking to Duke Ellington about the Elizabethan Suite he composed for the Festival, Peter Gzowski expertly playing straight man to Colm Feore's tales of madness with John Hirsch, and live footage of Richard Monette, freak flag flying, calling out the "pigs" on the board of the festival for their philistinism at the annual meeting. A few years later, he would be running the Festival and producing expensive musicals in the Festival Theatre.

At a time when the CBC seems to be drifting rightward, programs like this are an antidote to despair. I marvel at the giants who have worked at the CBC. It has achieved greatness in the past and can do so again.

Radio has that timeless quality.  It's not affected by style and trends as much as tv or writing.

Too bad the current CBC radio is not up to former standards. 

Basically I listen to The Current, As It Happens, occasionally Sunday Edition, and the various newscasts.  The cultural programming is grim.  Age of Persuasion is starting to bug me with its monotony.  I get it already - it's about advertising.  Who knew an advertising consultant would suggest such a thing! 

Spark is pointless.  DNTO is so bad that it really needs to be knocked on the head to stop the misery.

I loathe Q 90% of the time.  I don't think the fault is with Ghomeshi.  He's decent.  The content of the show is disgustingly pop culture.  Hey, let's toss up whatever band just released an album (which Ghomeshi instantly says is "very strong"), or whatever writer is touring through Toronto, or whatever American cultural story can be found.... and promote this stuff on Canadian public radio without an ounce of analysis or discussion.

And of all the things the CBC could concentrate its coverage on currently.... we get blanket world cup nonsense??

David Suzuki did quite well on his opening show this morning at 11 a.m., interviewing Prentice and challenging him to speak to the contradiction that Suzuki finds most maddening, most contradictory...the economists' line that there must be growth of the economy, even while it causes irrevocable damage to the environment of a finite planet Earth.

"The Bottom Line" will air every Sunday at 11 a.m....following, I trust, the  foreshortened summer show of Michael Enright (Robert Harris stood in for him this a.m..

Ah, thanks for reminding me about that show, GV.  I heard a promo interview with Suzuki about it, then promptly forgot it was a summer show.

Radio is doing a poor job of advertising the summer shows.  There is, apparently, a show about divorce, another about the immigrant experience, Suzuki, and another round of Revision Quest.

Well I don't like how CBC radio has an H.A.L. 9000 newsrobot called "Patricia Bell" replacing a human reporter.

Sub-Nerdz thread topic.

As It Happens will be replacing a host soon.  By late fall, at latest, I would suspect a permanent replacement for Barbara Budd - and that's from a commentary Fisher read in the early days following Budd's departure.

So far I have to say Chris Howden, the main writer for the show apparently and an occasional fill-in, is the best.  Fisher was too stiff and wasn't suited to the spot. 

One of the criticism about Budd, from what I read, was based on her non-journalist background (and degree).  I assume her role will be filled by a "journalist".  Awesome.  And if the show sucks because of that there can be only the management to blame. 

I don't know Howden's background, but AIH plays some awesome quips from him.  And he delivers them well.  It's almost like he's giving a big Fuck You to the Ceeb management.  He's been writing some pretty cutting comments, for a flagship CBC show. 

This link might help explain.  I note that the writer dumps on Peter Armstrong as a new reader.  I agree.  But he's co-hosting AIH right now with Howden and he's good in this role.  Or, better, I should say.   

http://wayoutinthemargin.blogspot.com/2010/04/media-cbc-fired-barbara-bu...

Yep, Maitland and Frum were really the best. But I loved Budd's dramatic flair.   Not fair, izzit....

Who have you liked so far, GV?

I like Harry Brown, Allan Maitland's predecessor.  And Babs Frum is highly overrated.  Did anyone else see her interview with Desmond Tutu's son on The Journal round about 1986?

Didn't catch that one, but I recall her position as largely liberal...if hardnosed.

A CBC interview that stands out from that time, and which I heard, was Peter Gzowski with Noam Chomsky.  Gzoski was totally unfair after being shown the contradictions in his Liberal positions.   He apologized the next day ...for unfairness, without admitting the failure of his political position.  

Who've I "liked" in the new batch, Fp?  Afraid I'm just an Enright/Suzuki fan on Sunday mornings so far, and they aren't so new, eh!  I'm always looking for less "balance", more ba..s.    Your nominees in that category?

I have been listening to Assunder a series on divorce narrated by Saint John's Rachel Cave with Mark Tunney. The former is divorced, the latter is not.

GV, sorry, I meant who have you liked as co-host since Budd was kicked to the curb.  Howden gets my vote, but he's also the show's main writer and the radio cost-conscious Ceeb (vs the disgusting waste of TV and the net) seems to want to squeeze one of radio's best shows with its penny pinching stupidity. 

I think Peter Armstrong is a poor news reader.  But he was good filling in for Off this week on AIH.  He's married to Pia Chattapatti (sp err likely), who was filling in on The Current.  She needs to get off radio, I think.  I hate how the new CBC is shoehorning these TV clowns onto radio and expects good results.   

I need to listen to the Suzuki show. 

While driving chickens to the processor last night I happened to catch a half hour show called, This and That.  I had no idea this show existed.  And, I gather, it's supposed to be comedy.  Consisting of made up news and interviews, and hosted by squeeky voiced dudes, I was not impressed.

That show wasn't out of the west by any chance?  Strained attempts at formula humour have tended to originate in Alberta lately.

As it happens, I have not been able to listen to As It Happens. I should not have listened to Barbara's last show.

Yeah, I hear you.  I was listening the night she announced she was leaving the show.  I was not pleased, because clearly there was something going on behind the scenes.  Still, the show must go on... and hosts do need to be refreshed from time to time. 

The show, This and That, originates in Vancouver.  So you were close, GV.

I heard a promo for another summer show, by Khalil Aktar, on food.  Can't remember the title now, but Aktar puts together some decent food related stuff from his office.  I resent the fact that CBC radio has all these food experts and authors and so forth on, without any passable reporting on agriculture business\lifestyle\politics, but Aktar's show will likely be good listening.  There's all sorts of wierd niche farming going on in the western provinces and I hope he checks into some of that.

Double thumbs up for Asunder.

Great radio.  Shitty music.

I just heard today about another new, summer, show.  "Being Jann Arden"....  Reality radio?  Arden intrigues me but I'm reserving judgement until I take a listen.

As It Happens is put together very well, and I don't miss the slower paced Carol Off...have yet to decide on the politics.

AIH is smooth, and never feels formulaic, like the morning and afternoon shows.

I don't miss Off at all, either, GV.  When the show was running a talent contest to replace the excellent Mary Lou Finlay, I thought Off the weakest of the potentials.  Helen Mann was much better.  Chris Thomas was good and has since disappeared from the radio.

Peter Armstrong is quite good in Off's position.  I'd dump Off and move Armstrong from newscaster, where he's average, to AIH.

I love playing CBC chess. 

Oh, and the awful comedy show that I mention in a recent post is a repeat from Radio 3.  It was awful. 

http://radio3.cbc.ca/#/bands/This-Is-That

I heard this show the other day.  The guy was talking about cilantro while I was washing a bunch of cilantro! He said cilantro is an ethnic food that one likes only if one has grown up eating it. I have to disagree with him on that, as I had never encountered cilantro until about 8-9 years ago. I didn't care for it much at first, but now I really like it. My backyard is full of volunteer cilantro at the moment.

I was makjing cilantro chutney while listening to that programme. I put a jalapeño pepper, some cumin, lime juice, a tomato and a bunch of cilantro into the chopper and let 'er go. It's as good as the store-bought stuff, yet doesn't have the weird chemicals and dyes that come with commercial chutneys.

@ al-Qa'bong

I heard that show too.

I was doing deliveries during the show (so I caught bits of it) but I think they may have missed the most important part, given that they were talking about all those disagreeable aldehydes - the name comes from the Greek word for bedbug because apparently cilantro smells like bedbugs.

And not to turn this into the gardening thread, but I have just bales of it in my garden. I have to either dig up an old recipe for cilantro pesto or I will be condemned to endless samosa making this fall.

The thing I have noticed most with CBC (radio) lately is the repeats and re-pieced together shows.

I did hear an amazing one this summer about alternative artists (and also some not so alternativ ones) in Serbia. It was a documentary out of Montreal.

I hope some others have been able to listen in to Michael Enright's old interview with Oscar Brand this a.m. (on right now)   Just heard Jonni Mitchell  singing under her first moniker, Joan Anderson.

David Suzuki's The Bottom Line to follow at 11 a.m.

AND the late Saul Bellow is heard from an old interview on Writers and Company at   3 p.m.    today.

Can someone explain the puff pieces for cross country check up. 3 weeks and not one progamme has been about the census debacle. This week is about festivals...really? We might head to an election because of the census and this is what they are covering. Last week was conrad black...isn't that also pretty old news for the most part. I still had hope that the cons hadn't corrupted radio 1 but the lack of coverage on what is clearly a very important topic(given CCC is considered a flagship show) leave me in doubt.

I heard one piece on as it happens this week or last, but thats it. Did anyone hear Sunday Edition to see if enright covered it?

@ thorin_bane

There's that.... and if they are going to do a puff piece on festivals why do they wait until the summer is half over, when most of the big ones (out west, anyway) are over already. After all, they do a book thing every year before the start of summer, and unlike festivals, books don't have an expiry date.

David Suzuki on The Bottom Line this morning looked at the Tar Patch and interviewed people in the area...the Alberta Minister of the Environment declined to be interviewed. So far, the area involved in bitumen mining is about the size of Vancouver.  The Athabaska River has become toxic to fish and people all the way down to L. Athabaska. 

' "Introducing" classical music to kids'

http://www.cbc.ca/radio2/programs/2010/08/introclassical.html#more

'People sometimes talk about "introducing" classical music to children, as though it was medicine. Wrong, all wrong. Why not just play great music (of all kinds) for kids? That seems to work well. (Speaking from personal experience.)

'Although it's true that if you are a composer you have an added advantage. You can write music you think will particularly charm and entrance children. For instance Claude Debussy wrote music for his daughter, Claude-Emma, nicknamed Chou-Chou. (Not much is cuter than that.)

'Today Tempo's featuring the "Children's Corner" suite, the music big Claude wrote for little Claude. It's where the wonderful Golliwogg's Cakewalk [48] comes from. ("Golliwogg" being perhaps second only to "Chou-Chou" in terms of words that are fun to say.) ...'

@ toddsschneider

Now there's a thread subject all its own: to bowdlerize or not to bowdlerize, that is the question.

Agreed...I enjoy classical, thanks bugs bunny and my grandfather. It wasn't till I was in my 20s that is was important to me, but at least I turned the corner. Still dislike modern jazz(sounds like a piano falling down a staircase), though big band is good.

@george I have noticed that our federal cons have used this tactic a lot. A lot of times they are unavailable for comment or decline etc. On p&p evan will then "to be fair" ask questions or defend the governments position. I say tough luck. If you can't be bothered to at least put forward a statement or to debate at all. Then the opposition should get free reign period. No need to be fair if they can't even be bothered to respond. Its not like a one edition a week paper from a small town we are talking about(which you could still leave a comment) its the national broadcaster. Just another stonewalling tactic on information from our accountable and tranparent conservatives.

Evan Solomon sold out long, long ago.  His appointment (among others) simplified my giving up TV some time ago.  CBC Radio one is harder to kill, and if it survives the Conservative ascension, may yet be revitalized by fumigating CBC head office...and restoring a fraction of the public monies that could make it again a valuable window into Canadian affairs.

GV's wishes become reality:

http://www.cbc.ca/arts/media/story/2010/08/06/richard-stursberg.html

Stursberg (partner of Carol McNeil) is gonzo. The man who reportedly called news and current affairs programming "the black hole" has left Fort Dork. I can only imagine what he thought of CBC radio, with no chance at ad dollars or American programming (outside of the continually absurd Q).

Unfortunately, he's being replaced in the short term by Kirstine Stewart, who's main claim to fame, from what I understand, is The Strombo Show.

The other day on Q ( I think), the CBC host was interviewing Dolph Lundgren.  I think he played a Soviet boxer opposite Stallone once.  Anyway, the subject was some new action movie.

Why doesn't CBC Radio just hire Ben bloody Mulroney and make it official?

Hey, easy on Dolph.  He was also The Punisher...

Q is a poor program.  Ghomeshi is off on summer vacation, and standing in this week is Jonathan Torrens, who has filled a variety of media roles in his career, most notably J Roc on Trailer Park Boys.

But as an arts and entertainment host he's not sounding all that effective or happy to be in the seat. 

I suspect Q's days are numbered.  Or maybe that's hope that with the end of the Stursberg era, Radio One will cease and desist programs like Q which are clearly misplaced on a public broadcasting schedule.  I don't mind Ghomeshi as much as a loathe the celebrity humping content of the show. 

I used to criticize Sounds Like Canada for being a little soft and sweet, but remembering the show now, I can only hope for its return.  Shelagh Rogers used to speak to, you know, Canadians who were happy, sick, dying, politicians, activists, with nary an American or international celeb "name" to speak of.  SLC was not free advertising for whatever press releases were being issued that week. 

Stursberg's departure has been attributed to a conflict with the CBC's next five year plan (cue, or Q, the jokes re. five year plans).  I suspect some brainy upper management types got together and have realized that a publically funded broadcaster should probably not chase the same stories and presentation styles as the private sector.  Stursberg was, from what I've read, all about "eyeballs" and ratings and implementing metrics from US broadcast consultants.

One thing I noticed most of all about CBC radio's delivery was the incessant self-promoting of CBC programs that were not radio broadcasts.  The idea was presumably to use radio's ad-free space to advertise for CBC.ca and CBCtv.  Because, to someone like Stursberg, radio's lack of ad revenue negatively affected the ledger; it was almost a waste.  So radio, clearly the stronger of the two broadcast operations in terms of content, has been used as a marketing tool for tv and online to make up for its damning lack of revenue possibilities. 

Three letters in the Globe this a.m. celebrated the end of Stursberg with the hope for a return to finer programming from the past.  The half-hourly promotional was high on the list of current failures. Hell, do you think that perhaps the board has wakened to public perception?

And the Globe informs us  today that the CBC will miss next summer's deadline for switching its signal transmitters from analogue to digital. the vp and chief regulatory officer with CBC/Radio-Canada, Steven Guiton, said they "don't have the cash to be doing this kind of invetment." They asked CRTC for a one-year extension. Total cost of conversion: about $50 million.Rogers, CanWest (Global) and CTV expect to be on time with conversion.

I could have told you that. They moved out half of our tower half a decade ago(and piss poor reception ever since). We still have cbc radio one on AM and they have been trying to shut it down for years. We had a huge rally to get our local TV back. Sadly given the harper era, I don't think many would bother...evan soloman was back on P&P today and I felt my blood boil as his shilling for the cons is so grating. Unlike conservative who have cried about bias in the CBC(something now happening in their favour, yet they say it isn't) we on the left have no where to go to get news. They could always go to national post or CTV or global if they hated the cbc. Now that the cbc is on a right bent, where do we go when not online.

Here's a report that may shed some light on Stursberg's departure:

http://vimeo.com/14001641 [59]

I'm a big fan of Ouimet, if not what's become of her teamakers website.

Alas, it appears that the teamakersblogspot - started when CBC mangement under Stursberg locked out the CBC employees in 2005 - has come to an end.  Too bad.  It was one of the very few blogs I read consistently, and at times teamakers was an invaluable resource into the inner workings of the corp, or the corpse as the CBC was often called on teamakers.  But of late the blog had been taken over by relentlessly awful gossipy bits about Ghomeshi and Strombo and little else of substance except some funny posts about how the CBC was attempting to use bullshit social media devices to appear more hip and with it.

Au revoir, Ouimet. 

OMG, give me the FM dial for eastern ontario, my sportstalk, the FAN590 has swung severely to the right.  I'm in a twilight zone, thank gooodness for babble.

I get the impression that CBC Radio, post Stursberg and beginning last week, started taking a more serious turn and that can't just be due to vacation season being over. 

Interestingly, to us nerdz, is the ongoing contest to replace Barbara Budd.  I listened last night, and some dude named Andrew Moddie was doing the Budd job.  His voice definitely caught my attention but his delivery was spotty.

Tonight the dude is nailing it down tight.  He's my vote for replacing Budd.

In an odd twist, I gather from his twitter feed that he's more of an actor than journalist.  That, apparently, was one knock against Budd near the end, and was used as justification for replacing her.  After a summer of journalists, perhaps what's left of the Ceeb management got their shit together long enough to try someone like this in Budd's role.... ie someone like Budd.

http://twitter.com/AndrewMoodie

I'm curious to see what they do with the Saturday morning line-up. I liked GO and was sad to see it, well, go.

It's about time that Joe Fan had his own show.

[ed.]

And Jackie Farr's The Radio Show was the best Saturday afternoon show ever.  Captain Jack should return.

Sure I'm a dreamer; there's no way the mediocrats running the Mother Corporation would allow talent such as that of the Old Fighter back on the air.

Before my time, QaBong.

I couldn't get into Go, Laine.  I think Bambury has done a good job on other shows.  He's a better host for Q than Ghomeshi.

Hard to say what will fill that hole on Saturdays.  I suspect repeat programming of some kind.

Saturday, outside of The House, needs some serious alterations.  DNTO is a mess, Go is gone.

I'm torn on the CBC's "food show" The Main Ingredient.  I think it's fun, and Khalil Aktar is a good host.  But the show is not breaking any new ground, and it certainly isn't a show about agriculture.  Food is political and the show is not.   

Bambury is keeping the time slot with a new show called "Day Six".

al-Q is right:

The Radio Show with Jack Farr towers over its successors. Thing was, Jack Farr was at ease in his own skin and ran a show that pleased him first and the listeners second. DNTO, in contrast, has always been the geeky kid on the outside of the charmed circle, frantically trying to master the latest cool trends in order to win a chance to ride in the middle of the back seat. A lot of CBC Radio programs seem to do the same thing. The only way to run a proper show is to pick an interesting host, then let them run with the ball, and if that means a solid week of Andean flute music, well, c'est la vie. But for a long time now, the emphasis has been on making the on-air product less dependent on its host. Fine in theory, but it just doesn't work on the most intimate of all media.

What is Bambury's new show about?  Does CBC radio ever advertise it's own programs, or bother to intro them to the listeners?

Hmm, interesting observation, Foth-Phipps. 

I won't argue that a lot of the non-new and current events shows tend towards lame and middle ground, almost as if they aren't really trying that hard.  I do like Tapestry, because I think Mary Hynes is awesome.  I can listen to that show and not ever agree with any of the guests. 

DNTO wasn't always this shitty. Sure, there was a strong geek and urban trend humping side of the show, but some of the pieces they used to run were fun: little stories and small docs about odd things.  And then there was Nora.... Now we get Sook-Yin and seemingly random people talking about whatever pops into their heads.  I assume DNTO has become "the voice of the people", a lame replacement for Outfront, which was occasionally a very jarring program.

The six pm newscast has tweaked format, I think.  There are fewer stories, but the stories are longer, and there's only one newscaster instead of two. 

Moodie did a nice job on AIH last night. 

Not that I listen to a lot of CBC radio, but DNTO seems to always coincide with the weekend time slot when the family heads out to do whatever chores and shopping is needed ... It may not be a heavyweight intellectual program, but it's something I can listen to on the way to the grocery store, go in buy the groceries, and return and feel like I haven't missed a whole lot (which I grant is probably not what would normally be considered a "plus" under most other circumstances.)

The best thing about the show is that it talks about simple things that many of us just take for granted ... My wife and daughter are originally from SE Asia, and can have different takes on some of these concepts. They get to understand the North American take on these concepts, and I get a better understanding of how another culture (a culture I have to live with) views these concepts ... DNTO allows us an opportunity to discover these differences and talk to each other about them.

Hopefully there are other mixed culture families, and even same-cultured-but-not-North-American families that listen and find it useful to their understanding of the culture they find themselves living among.

I enjoyed DNTO when Nora Young hosted it - the program was longer and segments more varied. Since then DNTO keeps shrinking on all fronts. I've also noticed that the pool of people interviewed on whatever simple theme they feature is often limited to fellow CBC contributors, hosts and producers. There seem to be less random people on the street interviews or story-telling.

Andrew Moodie seems to be well-suited for AIH, Farmpunk. Nice voice and delivery overall. I also agree with you about Tapestry. I never tire of the show even when I think the topic will bore me to tears. Mary Hynes is great. I found that Inside Track with Robin Brown had a similar effect. I don't follow sports but I was often intrigued by the interviews she presented.

Interesting comments, NoYards.  Did you have a particular episode in mind that I could search and listen to online? 

There was a CBC summer series, circa 2009, that is occasionally replayed and its all about immigration and the Canadian experience.  I simply cannot remember the name of the show...  The host was an Indian woman.  It was a neat program, because it delved into a lot of second generation Canadians telling their stories and comparing their parents' backgrounds with the new country and kids born into that new country.  There was a neat show on mult-ethnic marriage, too, that I found really intriguing, because a very strong percentage of my small town white friends have married first or second generation Canadians.

I agree more with Laine's assessment of DNTO.  To each his\her own, though.  Sook-Yin has progressed into a decent host.  But there's no story to the show anymore. 

If I were running the Ceeb, I'd stick Ghomeshi, Sook-Yin, Strombo, Jennifer Hollett, Jann Arden, and whomever else was recruited from MuchMusic and the entertainment field, all on one show replacing DNTO.

Not specifically, but I recall one show about gluttony that evoked some discussion .... being raised SE Asian Buddhist their concept of gluttony was not quite the same as mine (can't recall the specifics of the differences, I just remember that after that show they would joke about my gluttonous habits  at the diner table (eat too fast) which for them was not something they would normally associate with their concept of the word, or at least the word they most closely associated with the term in their language.)

I think the point being is that DNTO has a theme each week, and sometimes that theme doesn't always have the same context in other cultures as it does in our own ... DNTO is like North America popular culture 101. Not sure if that's what it is meant to be, but because of the circumstances and timing of the show with our lifestyle, that seems to be how we use it.

Cool.  Solid perspective.

Check out "Mashup" hosted by Geeta Nadkarni.  I thought that was a neat show.  The episodes are still posted online, I believe.

Will have a look, thanks.

Damn, I was away when our local CBC Radio decided to axe Margaux Watt from her position as the host of the drive home afternoon program (Afternoon Edition/Up to Speed - latter being the name that the brain trust came up to sexy up the program). Anyway, the new permanent replacement started this week. I kept thinking he sounded like a country or rock AM Radio DJ.

Sure enough he was part of a "rock/schlock jock" duo that hosted a drive-in morning show on CJOB. He is also an evangelical on-again, off-again preacher who left CJOB to work for the Siloam Mission. WTF?! Are the CBC deluded enough to think they are going to attract audiences that abhor our publicly funded airways?

Some background reading:

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/life/faith/from_rock_jock_to_pulpit-409...

http://godtalkradioshow.blogspot.com/2009/11/winnipeg-duo-creating-must-... [77]

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/Updike-leaving--100541234.... [78]

In their usual slippery way, management cast it as her decision, wanting to explore other opportunities. But she was axed period.

"Margaux is a solid journalist," Bertrand said. "She's done a great job, but I know she has some other opportunities in the building she wants to explore."

Bertrand had no job for Watt to announce yet, but he said he wants her replacement in front of the microphone in September, when the important fall ratings period begins.

The corporation's union agreement means the position must be posted.

In a staff memo Friday morning, Bertrand cast the decision as Watt's, but sources inside the Portage Avenue plant say this is not the case.

Also it sounds like Larry Updike was recruited specifically for the job based on his own comment re: CBC making him an offer he couldn't refuse.

http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/cbc-replacing-afternoon-radio-sho... [79]

Good post, Laine.  Thanks. 

Your take?  Was Margaux good?  The dude replacing her seems, and I can't put this diplomatically, old.  Maybe she was tired of hosting the show...

Ha, as soon as I hack the Ceeb for not advertising Bambury's new show, I just heard a promo for Sixth Day which makes it sound neat, a current affairs type show.  I just hope the show doesn't steal a tactic from Q and simply follow up on topics that The Current has already covered.

Plus, AIH had a weird thing from Rober Fisher.  Apparently the second edition of something he did earlier for the show.  Sounded kinda odd to me.  But at least the show is trying some news things. 

I liked Margaux and she was very good at promoting local musicians and other cultural events. I doubt she was ready for retirement.

I caught the Sixth Day and the jury is still out as far as I'm concerned. Having Monte Solberg on kind of ticked me off. (What's CBC's fixation with him? I was surprised to hear him host Cross-Country check-up last spring.)

And sadly enough, it seems that the Edmonton-based program, The Irrelevants, is a permanent fixture. (I was hoping it was just a summer replacement, oh well.)

Harper lackey thats all you need to know. Just look for the brown nose.

And, Thorin, I figured you'd be all over Solomon hosting Cross Country Check Up.  He didn't sound comfortable.

I only caught the last 10 minutes of Cross Country Check-up so I can't fairly assess Solomon's performance. The good thing about that show is that you do get to hear opinions that go against the host's comfort zone and gets them hot under-the-collar. I love it when Rex looses his cool when schooled by someone who has a contrary and well-expressed opinion.

LOL Farmpunk....yeah I thought about a scree but what is the point. I think everyone knows my disgust for the CBC as of late. And yes no surprise his usual smug self gratuitous nature shown through. He even managed to plug his own show. His style is very grating, cuts off people he doesn't agree with and says shit like "I like your answer" You aren't suppose to make that call. You are suppose to be neutral jerk.

Also didn't like him fawning over T-Rex the guy is a consummate ass kisser, might be why I hate him so much. He obviously was out of his depths. Part of that is unlike TV with his goofy fake smile, looks cant cover for incompetance. All you recieve is what comes out of your mouth.

This relates to how Nixon Vs Kennedy(i think) went betwen the radio and TV public having very different views of who won the debate. Though that may also have something of a rural vs urban divide as well.

LL I agree he usually tries to get them off hastily as well.

CCC was poor this week. The guests were in the wrong spots and comments didn't seem to be very diverse. The only thing consistant was the usual weirdo who gets on talking about some completely non related issue.

As a follow up. I don't understand why the CBC has certain people like Evan and Amanda lang everywhere while laying off Brian Stewart(unless he quit given the direction of the ceeb) The canadian talent pool is getting shallower each year. No one is trained or groomed. Just look good and read the teleprompter. Like you mentioned Farmpunk, Soloman sounded uncomfortable. No cue cards to ask questions of MPs means he actually has to try to make an intelligent answer.

Just watch the 2 parts to this old Hot Type interview with chomsky and how he make ES look like a complete noob as both an interviewer and someone talking about the middle east. Evan hasn't learned much in the last 10 years either.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10rTPSSmOFw

I did laugh at the guy who kept calling him Yvon instead of Evan on CCC...made my day.

What is everones opinion on Afghanida...I feel it is more like propganada than anything else. It is meant to pull your emotions towards the tough job "our soldiers" are doing. Little is progressive in the program, perhaps putting a woman in charge. I am a bit cynical in that is just a way of bringing women into the fold while still giving a soap opera content of we are right they are wrong. The show has its moments but to me is mostly propoganda. I have only heard maybe 5 or 6 of the shows in entirety..does anyone here listen to it often enough for a more informed opinion than mine?

I remember Heph calling "Afghanida" blatant propaganda at EM when this radio drama first started. I've probably listened to a handful of episodes annually and although it sometimes has compelling story lines, and the tone is sort of balanced, I still think its propaganda. More subtle than blatant, but it certainly seems to paint a portrait of our military being very compassionate and committed to an honourable mission. The closest I've seen to a Canadian bad apple is a naive, trigger happy soldier in one episode who gets schooled for nearly screwing things up bad. There might be a few officers that come off as too officious at worst. I'm amazed that it's into its fifth season.

I was thinking that too LL, thats what prompted my post. "now into its 5 season" And I was thinking really? When you consider how many other projects have been ejected that aren't lifers unlike Sunday Edition, As It Happens, Cross Conservative Checkup  etc

So my perception isn't wrong at least from your perspective. That is how I felt. Our "boys" were a little too goody too shoes for soldiers. And yeah some of the story lines are interesting, as is the case for any half ass wirten series that runs in serial.

I can't listen to it. Normally Radio One is my constant listening companion at work. When Afghanada comes on, the feed gets muted.

Scott I cant stand the ads for it. It truns my stomach. All good for the actors to earn a living, but man this isn't art its bullshit. Its like all the songs being played to cola or sneakers to sell them to us using emotions instead of facts.

Cosatas Halavrezos retired today.

Costas was born on Boxing Day in Saint John, New Brunswick, where his parents operated "Nick's Coffee Counter". The busy short-order restaurant was the perfect training ground for public broadcasting as Costas got to meet people from all walks of life and read all the latest newspapers, magazines, paperbacks and comic books for free. Costas studied physics at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, but after getting a B.Sc., he returned to take a year of Arts courses. If the St. F.X. Jazz Program had been offered back then, he'd probably have ended up playing in a smoky club 'Round Midnight instead of hosting a radio show 'Round Noon.

Costas began freelancing for CBC Radio in the mid-70s and was hired as a producer in Saint John in 1978. In 1982,he began hosting the local 4-6 show. From 1985-87, he worked with CBC Radio in Quebec City. Aside from duties on the daily shows, he wrote and hosted the network program Radio Active, which showcased music and performers of the Francophone world.

http://www.cbc.ca/programguide/personality/costas_halavrezos

ETA: I used to drink coffee at his parents coffee counter when I was in high school.

What's up with Ezra Levant appearing on both "Q" and "Day Six"? More sucking up to the right by the CBC?

Re: Afghanada

Without regard to the show's considerable artistic merit, have you noticed that the radio troops tend to die heroically trading fire with the enemy, as opposed to getting unlucky and stepping on an IED? They're still selling the myth of the warrior, albeit very entertainingly.

I've never listened to an entire episode of Afghanada.  There's something in the tone and delivery that turns me off instantly.  I would rather those funds be spent on a regular show focussed on our mission, or the NATO mission, in Afghanistan.  I also have a philosophical problem with writers who are likely not soldiers - and are likely part of the pompous Canadian literati, puke - presenting their views of "what it's like". 

Levant makes for an interesting guest.  He's not afraid to talk and he can be entertaining.  He skewers left, right and centre.  He was burned early in his political career by butting heads with Harper when they were Reformers.  I think the progressive movement could use someone like him as a media lightning rod.

Oh, and I simply cannot remember where I read this, but apparently the CBC brass had a presser recently.  Insidethecbc.com, maybe.  The heads of radio and tv and news said there's going to be a strong emphasis on "content" as part of the "news renewal" that started a year ago and gave us a variety of annoyances, like the new National and Peter Armstrong barking into the mic every morning (to be fair, he is better now).

This dovetails with the departure of Stursberg and I'm left to wonder if Kind Richard really was mucking up the news and radio divisions.  The radio people have sounded much more comfortable on air, and the stories have been longer and stronger, more CBC.  There still isn't a single reporter or producer doing anything in Hamilton-Kitchener-Guelph and I have no idea when the Ceeb will get around to realizing they are missing the boat in Southern Ontario.

I'm all for "longer and stronger" news stories. The problem over the last few years has seemed to be a distrust of the on-air reporters. Their stories were compressed, filleted, and bracketed by adrenaline-heavy stings. A few 800-lb gorillas got a chance to branch out, but everybody else had to file a story that was often so heavily edited as to be uninformative.  To see what could be done, you have no farther to look than Dispatches. On this show, lowly stringers and staffers are given room to breathe and wind up presenting stories that are not only informative, but bring you a sense of the texture of life in foreign countries. I recall brilliant essays on a Touareg gathering in the Sahara, a disputed island in an overfished African lake, and Kenyan drovers feeding their cattle on suburban lawns as they drove them to market.I know there's only so much time in a half-hour newscast, but a more reflective tone and greater trust of the reporters couldn't hurt.

Missed most of Michael Enright, Sunday AM, but woke after midnight to get the bit about a teacher who raised her late daughter-in-law's son, suffering from the ravages of fetal alcohol syndrome, through 15 years of hell, and finally seeing him off to study music at Mohawk College.   Inspirational.  

Hope I'm in the vicinity of a radio when Radio One gives us "White Coat, Black Art" at 11:30 AM today. 

F-Phipps, solid points.  It's probably back to management led formatting.  The US or private radio style is to have boat loads of short, punchy, stories, lots of promos and teasers.  The big Ceeb casts - World at Six, World this Weekend - work best when they flow smoothly.  So when the reporters are told to chase a certain story, in a certain way, they don't really have a lot of choice. 

That's what I think has changed - the length.  Cudmore has filed some long pieces lately, and there's been a lot of nearly two minute peices being played. 

I'm not sure the Dispatches style would work for daily news.  Those are heavily vetted stories, carefully chosen and edited, crafted.  That kind of detail can't be accomplished daily - it'd be like writing a short story every day. 

Dispatches varies.  Occasionally I get the idea that a lot of MA grads spend four months dreaming up an idea of where to go outside of Canada to get on Dispatches.  The romance of the foreign correspondent and all that.  Then it comes across in the dispatch - hey, things are different outside Canada!  Still, when Jennifer Westaway or Germain or any of the pros tie into a good story, it's very hard to beat.

F-Phipps, solid points.  It's probably back to management led formatting.  The US or private radio style is to have boat loads of short, punchy, stories, lots of promos and teasers.  The big Ceeb casts - World at Six, World this Weekend - work best when they flow smoothly.  So when the reporters are told to chase a certain story, in a certain way, they don't really have a lot of choice. 

That's what I think has changed - the length.  Cudmore has filed some long pieces lately, and there's been a lot of nearly two minute peices being played. 

I'm not sure the Dispatches style would work for daily news.  Those are heavily vetted stories, carefully chosen and edited, crafted.  That kind of detail can't be accomplished daily - it'd be like writing a short story every day. 

Dispatches varies.  Occasionally I get the idea that a lot of MA grads spend four months dreaming up an idea of where to go outside of Canada to get on Dispatches.  The romance of the foreign correspondent and all that.  Then it comes across in the dispatch - hey, things are different outside Canada!  Still, when Jennifer Westaway or Germain or any of the pros tie into a good story, it's very hard to beat.

That segment was a follow-up of Lynn Cunningham's excellent piece published in The Walrus last year. She's a journalism prof at Ryerson. Here is a link to the 4-page article:

http://www.walrusmagazine.com/articles/2009.10-memoir-cause-and-effect/

I'm looking forward to catching a new season of "White Coat, Black Art".

Yeah its pretty good. Goldman does a nice job of revealing a few things his fellow practitioners might not want you to see.

Can someone tell me what I am missing on wiretap. I have listened to it a number of times, its OK but I am not sure how its been on air for so long when other shows have been given the boot. I guess howards shenanigans are interesting, but the show is like seinfeld, though not nearly as funny. A show about nothing. Though to its credit it follows propaganada, so for that alone I guess it should get a pass for still being on the air since the other one is for 5 seasons..

I really like it.

OK LL so what is the appeal? That is what I am asking. Am I not listening often enough to get some in jokes or maybe it just isn't appropriate for my sense fo humour?

Some episodes are far better than others but I'll try to stumble through with an explanation. His series of re-telling of bible stories is both funny and tragic. He builds up the story, describing so many character nuances that you can't help but hang on for the ride.

The first episode I ever heard (caught the end of it), he was reading from letters a character he created had written. They were very funny and believable and then they took this bittersweet direction. I guess I often find myself laughing and crying. There is an incredible touch of humanity to his performances.

Plus he introduced me to Heather O'Neill who told her story about a kid named Jesus. Her novel, Lullaby for Little Criminals, is a brilliant piece of work.

Ah ok...i just couldn't figure out the theme. Thanks.

CBC tv has started advertising on Rightwingnut Radio (CFRB and AM640)...and the ads often run within seconds of the Belly Crackers (doyle, Stafford, oakley, bynon, dave agar etc) mocking the public broadcaster (and the '$1 billion' spent partially on radio network that doesn't sell ads)! Surely the CBC brainiacs know they wasting the money! it seems that giving public monies to reactionary radio which constantly advocates killing public broadcasting is wrong.

Jennifer westaway once (2003) did a piece about 'crazy relations of US presidents' and natcherly she mention 1)Ted kennedy, the drunken lady killer 2) Billy Carter, the beer swilling country bumpkin and 3) Roger Clinton, the drug addicted exconvict who's on welfare.   And? That was it. Nothing about the bush family. Nothing about anything that challenged  westaway's rightwing viewpoint.

'GO' had banbury one time (in 2004 i think) run a '5 reasons Al Gore lost the 2k election' when it turned out Gore WON the election and only lost due to trckery around the Florida recount, and the US supreme court.

I haven't tune in to Brent Branbury's new program since the first episode. Just hearing Ezra Levant made me turn it off.

Here is an interesting review from a blogger:

Last week, a featured guest was Ezra Levant. The day after he was confirmed to be full of it. Having Levant on the show just validates his distortions of reality...

http://rabble.ca/babble/media/cbc-radio-nerdz-viii

Onto round 8