Why does CBC Radio Two need an audience?

Why does CBC Radio Two need an audience?

The answer seems obvious, right? But is it so obvious?

First of all, the CBC is publicly funded. While a commercial radio station sells advertising to survive, CBC Radio is not saddled with this constraint. The CBC gets a big pot of money from the taxpayers each year to do with as they want - in Fiscal Year 2007, the CBC received $948 million in annual funding approved through Parliamentary appropriations, plus an additional $60 million for "Additional non-recurring funding for programming initiatives". So, theoretically, CBC Radio Two could have no listeners at all in Canada and still get it's share of the big pot of money.

Or could it? At some point, you would think someone - perhaps the Minister of Heritage - would sit up and take notice that the Canadian taxpayer was not getting much bang for their buck. But how low would CBC Radio Two's market share have to fall before anyone started to question the value of funding this enterprise? Would it have to fall to zero? How about one percent? Two percent? What is the cut-off point where CBC Radio Two no longer deserves to be funded by the Canadian taxpayer?

The CBC has reported, in their own press release, that CBC Radio Two's market share fell to 2.9% according to the latest BBM survey.

Put that in your pipe and smoke it, as the Hon. John Crosby used to say.

How did we almost miss this?

The above article appeared in Thursday's Globe and Mail. I've reproduced the text below:

"The new Minister of Canadian Heritage is warning CBC executives to rein in their expenses after reports of heavy spending on theatre tickets, meals and travel.

James Moore has written to the public broadcaster in response to a news story detailing lavish spending by Sylvain Lafrance, executive vice-president for French services.

"I am sure that you are sensitive to the fact that, at a time of fiscal restraint when Canadians are struggling to maintain their jobs and savings, this sort of reported excess does not sit well with them," Mr. Moore wrote in a letter released yesterday to the media.

Reports this week detailed how Mr. Lafrance signed off on almost $80,000 in 2006, including $28,000 on hotels, travel and meals."

I find this interesting not in the spirit of schadenfreude, but for another reason. I conclude from this report - perhaps overly optimistically - that the new Minister of Canadian Heritage, Mr. James Moore, is willing to exercise his duty to oversee the CBC and is willing to remind the CBC executives that, as a Crown Corporation, they are ultimately responsible to the Minister.

Bravo, Mr. Moore! Now, if only the CBC executives could also be reminded that they are also responsible to the shareholders of the CBC, the taxpayers of Canada, namely, you and me.

28 Cuts Later …

I first began this blog one year ago on April 28, 2007 to express my dissatisfaction at the changes to the CBC Radio Two evening schedule and to provide a forum where other CBC Radio Two listeners could express their opinions concerning the Radio Two programming changes. So what has happened in the past year, since April 28 2007? Well, quite a bit, as it turns out.

Weekend classical programming has been eviscerated. The CBC Radio Orchestra is being disbanded. The classical music budget for CBC Records has been eliminated. CBC Radio management have announced that Music & Company, Here’s to You, Studio Sparks, Disc Drive and Sound Advice, all popular programs among CBC Radio Two listeners, are to be cut from the CBC Radio Two schedule.

Could it get any worse? It’s hard to imagine how it could.

In spite of petitions signed by concerned listeners, letters written to CBC Radio management, the House Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage and the Minister of Heritage and protests in front of CBC buildings nation-wide, CBC management continues to force their vision, such as it is, of CBC Radio upon an increasingly resistant public. How will this end? Will CBC management succeed? Or will CBC Radio Two listeners, tired of being taken for granted, rise up and shout “I’m mad as hell, and I’m not going to take it anymore”?

As always, it’s up to you to make your voice heard!

The War on Classical Music

In case you missed it, it was reported in this morning’s Globe and Mail that the CBC Radio Orchestra, a 70 year old institution in Canada, would be disbanded by November 2008.

This move was apparently announced to members of the orchestra in a closed-door meeting in Vancouver last night, March 27.

The Globe and Mail reports a CBC Radio spokesman as stating: "Really, it's straight up a case of economics.We couldn't afford to maintain the orchestra.”

The spokesman is also reported to have stated, when asked if the dismantling of the orchestra was related to the move away from classical music on CBC Radio, “No, no, not at all. [The commissioned works] will be orchestral music [and] will be very much a part of what we're doing as we go on." It is not reported whether the spokesman managed to state this with a straight face or not.

Well, as Ann Landers used to write (or perhaps it was Abigail van Buren, my memory fails me), wake up and smell the coffee, people! Of course it’s related to the move away from classical music on CBC Radio! In case you haven’t noticed, there’s been a well-orchestrated (no pun intended) campaign against classical music taking place within the CBC for several years now, with the first outbreak of open hostilities being the cancellation of “Music for Awhile” and “In Performance” on March 19, 2007. The latest announcements of reduced classical programming during the day and the disbanding of the CBC Radio Orchestra are just mopping-up operations in that campaign.

What can you do? Write to your Member of Parliament. Write to members of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (see the link to the right). Write to the Minister of Heritage. Write to the CBC Board of Governors (see also the link to the right). Write a letter to the newspaper. Sign the petitions listed on the right. During the next election, ask the candidate in your riding what he or she plans to do to ensure that CBC management begins to be accountable to its listeners and viewers.

A response from the Minister of Heritage's office

Readers of this blog will have seen that I sent a letter to Ms. Bev Oda, Minister of Heritage, concerning the recent changes to the CBC Radio Two evening schedule. I neglected to mention in that blog entry that I e-mailed my letter to Ms. Oda's office on May 17 and sent the same letter by Canada Post on May 22.

I received a response today from Ms. Oda's office that acknowledges my e-mail and states "Please be assured that your correspondence will be given every consideration." We'll have to wait and see if Ms. Oda's office follows up with a more detailed response, but I applaud their efforts so far. It is only common courtesy to acknowledge receipt of an e-mail or letter from the public and I'm glad to see Ms. Oda's office realizes this!

Letter to the Hon. Bev Oda, Minister of Heritage

May 17, 2007

The Hon. Bev Oda
House of Commons
Ottawa, ON
K1A 0A6

Dear Ms. Oda,

I am writing to bring to your attention the following points:

1. I, and many other Canadians, do not believe that CBC Radio is adequately serving the needs and interests of Canadians.

2. I do not believe that CBC Radio management is attempting to solicit the opinions of the CBC Radio listening audience in a manner which allows the listening audience to have a meaningful voice in the choice of programming.

3. I believe CBC Radio management is making programming decisions which do not reflect the needs and interests of Canadians and is doing so based on information that they are unwilling to share with the CBC Radio listening audience.

4. I believe that CBC Radio is unwilling to let listeners comment on the programming changes that have already been made and is operating CBC Radio in an aura of secrecy that is not acceptable for Canada's public broadcasting system.

I provide the following as evidence for each of the above points:

1. I, and many other Canadians, do not believe that CBC Radio is adequately serving the needs and interests of Canadians

Please see the petition concerning the increasing amount of pop music played on CBC Radio One at the following web site: http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/stopcbcpop.

To date (May 17) this petition has been signed by 1,905 individuals.

Please see the comments made concerning the recent programming changes to the evening schedule of CBC Radio Two at the following web site: http://www.insidethecbc.com/platforms/radio2/r2evenings/

I have reviewed the comments and find that out of the 76 comments made, 10 comments are positive, 56 are negative and 10 are neutral. This web site has been closed to further comments since April 10 2007; otherwise, there may have been many more comments posted.

Please see the newspaper column written by Mr. Hugh Anderson in the Montreal Gazette on April 9 2007 at this address: http://www.publicairwaves.ca/index.php?page=1838

2. I do not believe that CBC Radio management is attempting to solicit the opinions of the CBC Radio listening audience in a manner which allows the listening audience to have a meaningful voice in the choice of programming.

The recent changes to the evening programming of CBC Radio Two were made without consulting the CBC Radio Two listening audience and without providing advance notice of the planned changes. There was no opportunity for the CBC Radio Two listening audience to comment on the planned changes before they were introduced. Instead, these programming changes were launched on March 19 2007 as a fait accompli.

3. I believe CBC Radio management is making programming decisions which do not reflect the needs and interests of Canadians and is doing so based on information that they are unwilling to share with the CBC Radio listening audience.

CBC Radio management has alluded to public consultation that was done prior to the programming changes being announced. I refer you to an article in the March 19 2007 Globe and Mail in which Ms. Jennifer McGuire is quoted as saying: "we have talked to all the organizations. We talked to composers. We talked to them when we started the study [to overhaul CBC Radio] and when we were thinking about what it meant in terms of programming changes ... That conversation continues to be ongoing." However, conspicuous by its absence is any mention of consulting the CBC Radio listening audience.

CBC Radio management has also referred to an "arts and culture study" which is driving many of the recent programming changes. In the meeting report of the New Music Community and CBC Radio, it is reported that CBC Radio is unwilling to make this study public as it is an "internal document". You may view the entire meeting report at the following web site: http://www.stopcbcpop.ca/CBC_New%20Music_Dec05.htm

4. I believe that CBC Radio is unwilling to let listeners comment on the programming changes that have already been made and is operating CBC Radio in an aura of secrecy that is not acceptable for Canada's public broadcasting system.

Although the new CBC Radio Two evening schedule was launched on March 19 2007, there has been no public forum accessible from CBC Radio Two's web site for listeners to comment on the new programming. There is a web site (http://www.insidethecbc.com) that claims to be the "official" CBC Radio blog, but this site has been closed to further public comments on the new CBC Radio Two evening schedule since April 10, 2007. Furthermore, since there is no link to this web site on the CBC Radio Two web site, I do not believe it is known to many listeners or users of the CBC Radio Two web site. There is also a link to provide feedback to CBC Radio (the "Tell Us What You Think" link) but this does not allow one to read comments left by other listeners, and there is no means to see replies left by CBC Radio management.

I am writing to protest against the behaviour of CBC Radio management since, by excluding the listening audience from partcipating in programming decisions, CBC Radio management is not adhering to the requirements of the Broadcasting Act, 1991. I am referring specifically to the following clause:

3.(1) It is hereby declared as the broadcasting policy for Canada that
(a) the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians

The Broadcasting Act, 1991 also states:

40. The Corporation is ultimately accountable, through the Minister, to Parliament for the conduct of its affairs.

I therefore urge you to take the following specific actions in correcting the behaviour of CBC Radio management:

1. Request CBC Radio management to establish a web site where listeners can post comments. All comments should be permitted, except those that are derogatory, defamatory, use profanity or are otherwise unacceptable in a public forum. The comments should be visible by all users of the site.

2. Request CBC Radio management to post the "arts and culture survey" mentioned earlier on the CBC Radio web site, with a link that is easily found on the main page of the CBC Radio web site.

3. Request CBC Radio management to release any other surveys of the listening audience that have been done in the past three years and that are being used to justify any further programming changes.

4. Request CBC Radio management to announce any further programming changes three months in advance of their implementation. These announcements should be made on the CBC Radio web site, with a link that is easily found on the main page of the CBC Radio web site.

5. Request CBC Radio management to solicit listener feedback on any programming changes before they are implemented and display this feedback on the CBC Radio web site, with a link to this feedback that is easily found on the main page of the CBC Radio web site. Request that CBC Radio management should not implement any future programming changes if the weight of public opinion, as determined through the feedback received, is not in favour of the proposed programming changes.

6. Request CBC Radio management to establish a Listener's Council, formed from volunteers from the listening audience, performers and members of the arts and culture community to participate in the discussion and implementation of any future programming changes.

I believe that the above recommendations, if implemented, will return CBC Radio to those who deserve to have a voice in the conduct of the corporation - the shareholders in the corporation, who also happen to be the taxpayers of Canada.

Sincerely,



James Wooten