"Taking Responsibility" - the Spring 2012 CBC Radio Two audience survey

One of the popular buzz-phrases these days seems to be “take responsibility”. People are being urged to “take responsibility” for their actions, or are stepping up to “take responsibility” for what they’ve done, even when it seems there is no need to do so.

For example, Jared Connaughton, the member of the Canadian 4 x 100 metre relay team who caused the Canadian team to be disqualified, was quoted as saying “he had to step up and take responsibility” for the disqualification. Teammates were quoted as praising Mr. Connaughton for stepping up and “taking responsibility” for the disqualification.

Why was it necessary for Mr. Connaughton to “take responsibility”? It was an accident. I very much doubt that he deliberately stepped on a lane line to disqualify the team. Stuff happens. There was no need to “take responsibility”.

Michael Bryant, the former Attorney-General for Ontario who was involved in the accidental death of Darcy Allen Sheppard, recently appeared on “The Current” on CBC Radio One. Listeners subsequently castigated Mr. Bryant for not “taking responsibility” for his actions. What actions? He attempted to flee from an individual who was attacking him and, in doing so, Mr. Sheppard died. There was no evidence that Mr. Bryant acted in a deliberate manner to harm Mr. Sheppard. It was an accident. What does it mean for Mr. Bryant to “take responsibility” for an accident?

I’m sure pundits, critics and media commentators will be urging Lance Armstrong to “take responsibility” for his alleged doping infractions. But Mr. Armstrong denies the allegations. What should he be “taking responsibility” for?

It’s one thing to be told to “take responsibility” for something that you didn’t do, had no intention of doing or was an accident, and quite another thing to “take responsibility” for something that you knowingly, deliberately did.

Which brings us to the CBC and the latest BBM radio survey data. When will someone from the CBC step up to the plate, belly up to the bar, [insert favourite saying here] and “take responsibility” for the CBC Radio Two restructuring fiasco?

Without further ado, here is the table summarizing the decline in the CBC Radio Two listening audience since the CBC embarked on their audacious plan to “restructure” Radio Two. As can be seen from the table, the audience for CBC Radio Two has been decimated in Montreal, Toronto, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton since the restructuring effort was initiated. Anyone willing to “take responsibility” for this fiasco?

To mark the fifth anniversary of the death of Radio Two

I unfortunately let several anniversaries slip by the notice of this blog. The first was the fifth anniversary of the beginning of the end of the old CBC Radio Two. This was, of course, March 19. It was on this date in 2007 that the CBC launched their stealth attack against the CBC Radio Two listening audience by cutting “The World at Six” from its 6:00 PM time slot, cancelling Danielle Charbonneau and the much-loved “Music for a While” and replacing “In Performance” with Eric Friesen with the reviled “Canada Live”. Oh yes, I forgot to mention: “Two New Hours”, “Brave New Waves” and “Northern Lights” were also cancelled. But it is easy to overlook these changes in the general slaughter that took place.


Of course, that was just the beginning. Even more drastic changes to the programming schedule were about to take place, commencing in September 2007 and finally being completed in September 2008. But for many of us, March 19 2007 was the day that the music died on CBC Radio Two.


So I thought it would be fun to mark the fifth anniversary of this blog by listing here all of the letters and correspondence that I sent to various individuals (and in some cases, the replies I received) during the course of my five-year protest against the changes that were made to CBC Radio Two. For those of you who have just discovered this blog, it’s an easy way to catch up on what has happened during the last five years. For those of you who have been following along, it’s a handy summary of what has taken place in the past five years.


The list is in the format of links to previous blog entries. Here goes:


Post to Jowi Taylor’s Blog, March 21 2007


Letter to Tell Us What You Think, March 24 2007


Letter to Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of Programming and Jane Chalmers, Vice-President of CBC Radio


Letter to Robert Rabinovich, President and CEO of the CBC


Letter to Gary Schellenberger, Chair of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage


Letter to Bev Oda, Minister of Heritage


Response from the office of the Minister of Heritage


Response from Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of Programming


A second letter to Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of Programming


A second response from the office of the Minister of Heritage


A second response from Jennifer McGuire, Executive Director of Programming


Letters to the members of the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage


Open letters to the candidates in Carleton-Mississippi Mills during the 2008 election


Replies from the candidates in Carleton-Mississippi Mills during the 2008 election


Of course, we can’t forget the nation-wide protest that took place on April 11 2008 in response to the disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra and the Radio Two changes that were announced at that time:


Scenes from a Protest


Although it wasn't in the form of a letter received from these two individuals, I thought the interview conducted with Mark Steinmetz and Chris Boyce (the CBC Radio Director of Music and the CBC Radio Director of Programming, respectively, at the time of the interview) was interesting for what it revealed about the CBC:


Interview with Mark Steinmetz and Chris Boyce

In a subsequent post I’ll attempt to answer the question “Where are they now”, to track the careers of some of the major players in the CBC Radio Two restructuring debacle.

The CBC: running madly off in all directions

This article appeared in the Feb. 14 2012 edition of the Globe and Mail, and on-line here.


One has to wonder what's going on in the CBC. First, CBC management decimates the Radio 2 audience by making some ill-considered changes to the programming, then runs madly off in all directions by launching digital music channels that only a small percentage of Canadians are likely to listen to. What happened to the concept of serving all Canadians, not just those with high-speed internet connections?




CBC enters digital-music arena
GUY DIXON
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
Published Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 6:00PM EST
Last updated Monday, Feb. 13, 2012 6:22PM EST



The CBC has taken a giant new step into the competitive digital-music arena. On Monday, the public broadcaster unveiled CBC Music, a website and mobile app with 40 radio stations covering genres from indie rock to classical. To keep listeners coming back (that all-important “stickiness” in digi-speak), the service also includes create-your-own  playlists and selections of songs by young artists such as Toronto’s Austra and Montreal’s Plants and Animals.


It’s not only a bid to attract more listeners, but also opens up “a whole bunch of ways to connect with them that [was] difficult to do on terrestrial radio,” said Chris Boyce, CBC’s executive director of radio and audio.


This comes as broadcasters are increasing their presence in the world of apps: Astral recently launched new mobile apps for its radio stations, with bonuses such as exclusive in-studio performances. Meanwhile, subscription streaming services such as Rdio are once again on the rise, offering users access to massive libraries of streaming music for a fee.


“Gone are the days when people first heard a new track of music on the radio,” Boyce said.The CBC isn’t trying to compete with online music retailers such as Apple’s iTunes, though. Instead, the site links to iTunes. And no, it doesn’t replace CBC’s on-air music. There are currently no plans to eliminate the Radio 2 music station, Boyce said.


The win


The CBC attracts savvy programmers. CBC’s independently spirited Radio 3, for example, brings listeners everything from singer-songwriter Kathleen Edwards to local Charlottetown band, Milks and Rectangles. Now that expertise can be applied to a broad spectrum of genres, with streams devoted to Canadian classical composers, some of the best homegrown jazz and alt pop. CBC Music could become a key arbiter of the best, if lesser-heard, music out there.


The miss


It’s still radio: You can’t jump ahead to the next song when listening to a stream. So while CBC Music caters to the new-media crowd, it requires old-media patience. You can jump forward or back while listening to playlists though. (Radio 3 host Lana Gay’s colourful list, including The Gruesome’s garage rocker Hey, is a highlight at the moment). Still, the nascent service only has a precious few playlists so far. And features of individual artists have a grand total of seven acts right now.


The competition


The pay service Rdio gives users access to a huge library of music for a monthly fee. Astral’s free apps are an extension of its stations, with added content such as app-only performances of hot acts. In comparison, CBC Music feels like the CBC – with a wider cross-section of music, unencumbered by the tight programming formats of private radio stations.


The next big thing


Spotify, officially unavailable in Canada, is nevertheless seen as a standard bearer with its personalized playlists (Obama just posted his) and its highly searchable library of artists. CBC Music, by comparison, is more like enhanced radio. Yet some digital radio sites, like American public broadcaster NPR, have taken a sharp direction toward nuanced, esoteric music. The question is whether users will want more breadth or more eclecticism? More searchability or more of a curated radio feel? 


What the CBC and the industry knows for sure is that we always want more music.


With files from Steve Ladurantaye