The CBC has apparently reached an agreement with its employees according to several news sources, and will shortly be back on the air – quite possibly this week.
This is happy news to my ears. As much as CKNW has been entertaining in my morning commute, I’ve missed Radio
During the lockout, I’ve heard a lot of commentary, especially by the neo-con business commentator Michael Campbell both on NW and in the
To support this position, they cite polls showing that somewhat over 61% of Canadians don’t care that CBC is in lockout and don’t miss them, whereas only 12% have expressed strong support for the CBC.
However, despite possibly valid arguments that CBC programming caters only to the “eggheads” and “intellectuals” among us, I think the CBC is an important and culturally vital entity. It is the only place which has uniquely Canadian content – this includes a lot of stuff that I freely admit I find tedious or boring or just don’t care about. However, nowhere else will you find shows like CBC radio’s “Ideas”, television series like “
PBS in the US, for all that it has a lot of good programming, doesn’t have anything like this – they have more highbrow fare than you’ll find on the mainstream broadcasters, but they also show an enormous amount of foreign entertainment to get the $$ flowing in. In terms of cultural content though, it doesn’t have anything comparable to the CBC.
The CBC isn’t perfect, but there’s nothing else like it on television or radio. It’s worth keeping.
4 comments:
I only listen to it for the classical music....
Hey, nobody's making you listen to anything else. :-)
Interesting sidebar - and shows how you can prove anything with statistics... According to the paper this morning, the government cites poll results that show an overwhelming majority of Canadians think the CBC is important and that some 70-something percent think it in some part is responsible for making us "different" from Americans.
If I want something different from the Americans, I tune into the French radio station and try to follow the news. I like the idea of the CBC but I'd be lying if I said that I thought it was a crucial component of Canadian culture.
I'd love to know what might serve as a comparable common denominator.
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