At one point, people of my generation would have taken to the streets to protect CBC-Radio and it was often referred to as a “national treasure”
You know, it’s only a couple of weeks ago that I wrote about CBC-Radio and the dismal shape it’s in these days for anyone over about 25. Wouldn’t normally write about the same thing so close together, but news out of CBC over the last few days has prompted me to re-visit our national broadcaster in this space. Apparently, long-running CBC-Radio staple Saturday Night Blues with Holger Peterson has been bumped out of the Saturday night time slot is has occupied for many, many years. It will continue to air somewhere on something called Radio 2 – which I’ve never been able to locate on my radio – or somewhere else called CBC Music – and I haven’t got the foggiest notion where to find that. This sad and bewildering news hot on the heels of earlier news that Randy Bachman’s Vinyl Tap is ending its run altogether. Yikes!
So CBC continues the alienation of any of its older audience that still remains – and I think there is little of it left already. I learned the fate of Holger Peterson from a Facebook post by outstanding Canadian blues guy Al Lerman. At one time, you heard artists like Al and Rick Fines and my musical friend Richard Knechtel and Willie P. Bennett and Fred Eaglesmith on CBC Radio all the time. Now, it’s a rare happening, indeed. Mostly, and as I’ve said before here, you get young “singer/songwriters” whose music is somewhat questionable to say the least. Nearly all CBC programming these days targets young people and I really wonder how many of Canada’s youth are much tuned in unless they have some type of vested interest in what’s being played.
There was quite a bit of feedback to Al’s post about Saturday Night Blues, most of it from folks around my vintage, and most of it negative toward CBC. It was suggested that former PM Stephen Harper had loaded up the CBC Board of Directors with anti-CBC people because the Conservatives generally don’t appreciate a lot of the opinion on the national broadcaster. If that was the case, the federal Liberals have had around six years to fix the problem and the network. Trudeau’s Liberals were supposed to be CBC friendly, but I can’t see any real evidence that is the case. The gutting of CBC has continued unfettered under the Liberals as witnessed by the Holger Peterson story.
And it really is sad because if you listen to Saturday Night Blues at all, you will know how absolutely loyal its audience is and how much its audience loves the show, the blues and Holger. Why in the world would you mess with something like that – like if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Unless your goal is to deliberately diminish it and the organization it is part of. You know, back a number of years ago, whenever any part of the government talked about messing with CBC, there was a really huge outcry about how important the network was to our sense of national identity and sort of who we were as Canadians. Those days are long over. I’ve heard Sally Field and Tori Amos on the CBC morning show. Why? Because they had new work out. Either a book or a record. Still, they’re taking up broadcast time that should go to Canadian artists. CBC should be all-Canadian all the time.
As a writer, I find CBC’s attitude toward artists extremely bush league these days. I’ve tried to contact various shows and departments at CBC concerning a number of issues as a writer, all I ever get in response – or non response – is what I call the “Wall of Silence”…..in other words, they just never respond. They don’t say “thanks for your interest” or “how good of you to get in touch” or “your work really sucks leave us alone”….they never say a damned thing. Which I find rude, disrespectful and bullshit. Back in the 90’s and early 2000’s, I submitted a lot of stuff to CBC and quite a bit of it made it onto the radio. But when they weren’t interested in something, they let you know…these days there’s nothing but utter and complete nothingness. Sometimes I think they can tell how old I am somehow, so I’m automatically disqualified because I’m over 25…..
Anyway, enough railing about CBC – ain’t nothin’ gonna change….too late now….most of the hosts who seemed to care about Canada and Canadians are long gone and I don’t think there’s any going back. At one point, people of my generation would have taken to the streets to protect CBC-Radio and it was often referred to as a “national treasure”. That’s surely not the case these days. Wonder if their new young audience is quite as passionate? I imagine at some point, we’ll find out. And it may not turn out all that well….