Saturday, April 28, 2007

Early warnings of the impending disaster

It must have been sometime in late February or early March 2007 when, while listening to Danielle Charbonneau's "Music for Awhile" program on CBC Radio Two, I heard Ms. Charbonneau announce that there would be a new program replacing "Music for Awhile", beginning March 19 2007. My heart sank. I was afraid that I knew what was coming - more crapulent programming such as the Friday evening "Canada Live", or whatever it was called at the time. I immediately regretted that I had not expressed my dissatisfaction to CBC Radio Two management the previous year when the new Friday evening programming was launched - live performances of eclectic music from across Canada that could be of interest to only the comatose or taxi drivers. Latvian hip-hop, Bulgarian Blues, Polynesian operatic works - you name it, it was not too bizarre or of limited interest to the general CBC Radio Two listening audience to be featured on Friday evenings. I could only tolerate it for several seconds before changing to Espace Musique where good taste still prevailed.

What to do? Should I begin writing letters now? Telephone my Member of Parliament? Begin a protest march on Parliament Hill? No, being a calm, considerate, complacent Canadian, I thought I should at least give it a try. Wait for March 19. Listen to the new programming - after all, I naively thought, it might not be as bad as I imagined it could be. It might even be good! Thus proving that hope springs eternal.

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