Yet another guest post from our indefatigable friend Allan, who really needs to stop sending endless nag E-mails in the tiny interregnum between submitting his posts and the time I am able to download, reformat, copy-edit, HTMLify, and post them.
– Fake Ouimet
CBC Radio is certainly fond of the word “this.” And it does carry the impact intended when starting off a program.
On a day when Q moves to mornings, Aamer starts a new show, and Denise Donlon is officially in the house, we find a national broadcaster’s programming in complete disarray.
If you were looking for the most expensive productions in Canadian radio, the most boring and pointless shows, and branding and identity that is all over the map, you would have found it today on CBC Radio 1.
Aamer’s debut was very weak.
Ghomeshi felt it necessary to introduce his show with a long and convoluted explanation of what Q is all about. But we already know: An elitist host who depends on out-of-towner celebrities to generate interest and then padding it with CBC promotions. A host that everyone hates and who makes every effort possible to sound smart. No one wants Jian except the CBC, and his idea of a show is the easiest thing in the world to produce.
In fact, it doesn’t even belong on radio. It’s The Hour without video, and the only ones who appreciate it are the guests who are getting free plugs.
At 11:30 it was somehow deemed appropriate to throw in a medical show to bring us up to the 12:00 news. What the hell?
At 2:00 it was Aamer trying to figure out who he is supposed to be and what he can do to distinguish himself. It was as if they couldn’t find a TV slot for him, which is where he too belongs.
CBC has learned nothing from all the years of being in the radio biz. It seems that it went right over their heads what Gzowksi and Shelagh Rogers were all about.
People want more from radio than an hour-long documentary. They want to spend time with someone interesting, and with someone who shares the same interests. And they want to spend three hours or more with that person, not an hour and a half. And they want to hear stuff that’s now, and not something that was probably taped three days ago but presented to the audience without a timestamp.
They want to get cozy with a friend who’s on top of Palin, financial disaster, NDP nonsense and whatever else truly occupies people’s thoughts on September 29, 2008.
They do not want a “mosaic” or “collage” or “tapestry” of hosts and sounds. They want someone to keep them company – good company. And they wouldn’t object to a bit of fun as we go along.
CBC Radio today is being programmed as if it were television – fragmented, as if they actually expected people to turn on just to hear one specific program and then leave.
That’s not how radio works. That’s not what it’s for.
What works in radio, and works perfectly for radio, is As It Happens, and Cross Country Check-Up and Michael Enright on weekends. And that’s it.
As It Happens is the show you want to listen to all day and night. Nothing can beat it.
To start your day with The Current is to have no life.
We are enduring the worst era of CBC radio, a total mess.
Erase it all, Ms. Donlon, and start again.