CBC - After the Lockout

[TenPenny]

So, here's a question. How many listeners will CBC radio lose after it's all over?

I'm only really thinking of Radio One, because Radio Two fills such a niche. CBC TV is pretty much pointless, and Newsworld is hardly ever news anyway.

I used to listen to Radio One almost exclusively. The morning show was local news/current events, kept you in touch with your community. At noon, we in the Maritimes had a good show which focussed on regional items, especially resource type things, farming/fishing/oil/resources, etc. And the afternoon show was often good, too. In between, depending on the day, were some good programs of current events/politics/arts/entertainment.

But with the lockout, I find it unbearable. Hideously bad and pointless. I don't hear what's going on in my area. So I listen to the commercial crapola stations. And after getting used to it, I might not go back. What am I saying. How could I get used to that? The commercials are the best part, other than the late school bus reports. Maybe I'll just get and FM dohickey for the iPod.

I think CBC TV is proving its pointlessness. As far as I can tell, there is only one thing that CBC TV does better than anyone else: hockey. Other than that, there's nothing special. So why bother?

What about you? Has CBC slit its own throat? Or will you return when it goes back to normal. Heck, for all I know it already is back to normal.

 

[no1important]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

I will go back to CBC Radio after the strike ends. I am sick of listening to the neocon network aka CKNW.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

I'll be back to listening to CBC Radio 1. I'll also be happier than hell when NewsWorld is back on the air so I can get news that isn't spun from the radical right.

As for the regular CBC TV...since it's summer they've been running re-runs anyway. Same with NewsWorld to an extent...politics is on hold for the summer and if it wasn't for Katrina there would have been no big stories.

The CBC brass staged the lockout in the summer for a reason.

 

[no1important]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

I bet it will be "settled" before opening night of the NHL.

I too miss Newsworld. Newsnet changed its format but it has only one thing going for it, Pretty anchors.

 

[peapod]

CBC will NEVER lose the pea. Gwad, I hate missing grandma suzy and sad goat

 

[Andygal]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

I'll still listen to the CBC. Sure won't listen to CKNW the Conservative Klan of Nutcases and Warmongers.

 

[Andem]

I'm still content with CTV news, and I catch the news at 11 every morning a few hours after it was broadcast in Canada. The return of CBC Newsworld will make me pretty happy though, because I sometimes switch between CTV and CBC.

 

[TenPenny]

What I hate about Newsworld is that every time I switch to it, it's either the Antiques Roadshow, or one of the moronic grovelling git interviewers, I can't even think of his name. Evan Solomon or something? Interviews Romeo Dallaire, and ends off with "it's been a pleasure"....you dork. Pleasure? You should consider it an honour, not a pleasure. I don't care if interviewing people like this gives you pleasure. And frankly, I don't want to see YOU, I want to see THEM.

What about News? I thought Newsworld was a news network. But then again, I thought TSN was a Sports Network, then I saw the "National Spelling Bee", which wasn't National, it was American. And, a spelling bee? God almighty.

 

[Reverend Blair]

There is more to news than reading the headlines over and over, Ten Penny. That's NewsWorld's strength. I'll grant you that the Antiques Roadshow sucks, but Solomon's show about books is news about Canadian literature.

NewsWorld also shows a lot of documentaries, has daily shows like Politics when parliament is in session, and has weekly news magazines where they look at some stories in more depth than they would normally be given on a regular news show. In other words, they have full coverage of national and international news and issues.

Nobody else offers that.

 

[missile]

I've been listening to CBC in the early mornings lately..and I enjoy the mix of music. but then,I never was a fan of the light classical they played before the strike.

 

[TenPenny]

There is more to news than reading the headlines over and over, Ten Penny. That's NewsWorld's strength. I'll grant you that the Antiques Roadshow sucks, but Solomon's show about books is news about Canadian literature.

NewsWorld also shows a lot of documentaries, has daily shows like Politics when parliament is in session, and has weekly news magazines where they look at some stories in more depth than they would normally be given on a regular news show. In other words, they have full coverage of national and international news and issues.

Nobody else offers that.

You're right, there's more to news than that. And when I wanted more, I'd listen to Radio One. Arts, books, they are important, and I used to like Sunday Morning on Radio One (I can almost stomach Michel Enright now), Writers and Company, etc, but I find Newsworld never seems to have the news on. It would be as if the Weather Network was constantly showing educational programs on how to grow canola. Yes, it's related. But not what I'd expect from a network with that name.

Somehow, I think the CBC as a whole has lost its focus. I cannot think of any other way to get what we had with Radio One and Two. But CBC TV and Newsworld don't seem to do a particularly good or different job.

 

[Jo Canadian]

:? I'm missing getting the variety of news that it did offer. Their website doesn't even have the Northern section anymore, :x which sucks, because the only newspaper that caters to the northern regions need you to pay to see their articles.

The Radio I try to listen to from time to time, but the only reruns I'd stop to listen to are Quirks and Quarks or Ideas at night. Everything else sucks. My alternative options on PEI here are: Magic 93 or.... :x wait that's it. It's just another cookie cutter station that plays the usual stuff. I am able to get hold of the Truro station in NS which is easier listening since it's more like the BEAR from Edmonton.

 

[no1important]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

*snicker* Do you think old Adrienne will get her old job back? *snicker*

 

[Reverend Blair]

but I find Newsworld never seems to have the news on.

They run the headlines every hour on the hour. The scroll across the bottom gives not only headlines, but some basic details too. The Hour comes on four nights a week, the National comes on five nights a week, News Sunday comes on three times every Sunday, the afternoon show comes on every day and includes a call-in segment that usually features at least one guest who is related to a news story, Politics comes on twice a day when parliament is sitting. The documentaries are generally in-depth looks at current events or issues. So are news magazine shows like the Fifth Estate.

I'm not sure what you're seeing that isn't news. Really, other than the Antiques Roadshow, it's all news. It isn't all breaking news, but if we all we get is breaking news then we are never fully informed because all we ever get is the soundbites.

 

[TenPenny]

Well, I consider that people sitting in a group discussing books is more arts than news. It's not necessarily less important. Mostly, its people who are all connected, talking so that they all know how important they all are.

Peter Mansbridge celebrating his own greatness by talking to someone isn't really news, either. Evan Solomon rarely has enough interesting to say to be considered news.

The Naional is already on the other network, so what's the value in that? The Fifth Estate is on the other network, so what's the value in that? For a while, they showed "22 minutes"...it was on the other network, too.

Same stuff, different channel. What purpose does that serve?



Mind you, I always thought that if anyone at the CBC was smart, they'd use the SAP feature in modern tv to have two different hockey games on, each in two languages. But that would require thinking.

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

Mansbridge's interviews are a standard journalistic practice. What is happening in the arts is news, that's why most newspapers have an arts section. Solomon also does the Sunday news show.

Having The National, The Fifth Estate, and other shows on both channels offers viewers a choice of when they can watch them and, since those are news shows, they fit into the news format nicely. At the same time, you cannot just remove them from the regular channel because then they are not available to people without cable. CTV also rebroadcasts it's nightly news on NewsNet, btw.

There is a lot of room for improvment on NewsWorld. They could have a lot more in-depth coverage, especially of Canadian stories. They do tend to be too Ontario-centric. A lot of shows have been cut due to budget constraints.

That isn't a reason to get rid of NewsWorld though, it's a reason to expand it so that in-depth coverage is possible and the shows that have been cut can get back on the air. The management is moving the other way on that.

How many people here would vote for increases in the CBC's budget though? Right now the CBC (all of it) costs each Canadian slightly less than the price of 24 beer each year. How many people would be willing to pony up the price of another dozen to increase the scope of the news coverage?

 

[mrmom2]

Feck that Rev the goverment takes to much of my beer money already Tax tax tax thats all i get Local ,Provincial and Federal hands in my pocket :evil: All to be mispent and given away as tax breaks to the rich .Well I say feck that enough is enough keep their fecking hands off what little beer money (which i have none know because of the price fuel )I have :evil:

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

They don't have to increase your taxes, Mom, we are running surpluses. All they have to do is give the CBC more of the tax money they are already taking. It isn't even much money in the grand scheme of federal spending.

This is exactly what I was getting at though. We've been cutting funding to the CBC since Mulroney was in power. More and more we hear that the CBC isn't giving us what we want. At the same time we hear that the CBC can't give us what we want because their budget has been slashed so deeply.

Oddly enough, you do tend to get what you pay for.

 

[mrmom2]

I know Rev but i'm tired of taxes going up and services going down . Tax breaks for wealthy corporations also seem to be at the top of the agenda .Take a look what Cambell has done with our latest budget .More breaks for the rich the rest of ya get to pay for it :evil:

 

[Reverend Blair]

RE: CBC - After the Locko

CBC is actually a prime example of services going down though. They have been asked to do more and more with less and less. The amazing thing is that they have, to a large extent, achieved that.