Last month, I responded to the cries for more funding at the CBC with a cranky evaluation of how it has gone wrong on the radio, in my view, at Mother Corp. After spending Easter weekend in the United States, permit me to suggest how the CBC could learn a thing or two from NPR.
I would like to begin with two caveats. First of all, I am not an apologist for all things American. I teach American Studies, and I am all too aware of the problems south of the border. Just because it is American does not mean it is, necessarily, better. It just happens that National Public Radio (and PBS, for that matter) does some things that might well be emulated up here. Second, there is nothing much new in what I will say here. Many of you will have heard much of it before from Jeffrey Dvorkin, who has held positions with both organizations. Just because he has been largely ignored does not mean that these ideas should not be repeated.
1. NPR supports regional programming. Now, I know that CBC has regional programming, too. In fact, most of what I still listen to on the radio is produced in Calgary and Edmonton. But when budgets get tight, it is the local programming that feels the pinch. What I really mean, though, it that there should be more national exposure for regional programming, and that goes for television, too. (Why can Newsworld, for example, not broadcast supper hour newscasts from across the country instead of endless repeats of The National and The Hour? When I am visiting another Canadian city and it is convenient, I try to catch their local news. What a wonderful nation-building exercise this could be.) There is no reason why more national arts programming cannot be produced in Saskatoon or Halifax, is there? How about a news show from St. John's or Thunder Bay? Unlike American talk shows that must be in New York or Los Angeles to attract guests, the joy of radio is that the host does not have to be in Toronto or Vancouver. The best parts of Sook-Yin Lee's remounted and pared-down DNTO are those things that feel like they really grow out of a Winnipeg mindset. NPR programming never feels like Washington "beltway" thought.
2. NPR does not rely on big personalities. For many of you, your favorite NPR program will still be associated with its host. (For me, I love the podcast of Bob Boilen's All Songs Considered.) But this is less so than it is with CBC. My earlier post was really about how difficult it has been to replace Finkleman, Gzowski, and Young. There are fewer titans under NPR's decentralized model, and so there are more voices. I happen to enjoy Michael Enright and Stuart McLean, for example, but where would your Sundays be if you did not feel this way?
Now, that said, I have to admit that the moronic behavior of Billy Bob Thornton last week was a timely reminder that I should have complimented, in my original post, Jian Ghomeshi for his Q program. It surely represents the kind of savvy cultural analysis that I value, and I should have written about it. CBC Radio needs more of the same.
3. NPR has advertising, kind of. NPR allows its programs to be "sponsored," in much the same way as PBS handles advertising. When listening to National Public Radio, I do not find these sponsor announcements, read by hosts, to be at all intrusive. There is, after all, a big difference between having the name of a local business announced and having some corny script performed. (Think Bad Boy Furniture's "Noooobody beats our prices," for example.) While there could be national sponsors with deep pockets on the CBC, of course, I imagine that entrepreneurs from our smaller cities and provinces should have the opportunity to step forward and support public broadcasting. I will admit: when deciding where to shop, I would like to be able to separate the takers from the sharers. If done right, some level of advertising on CBC Radio could strengthen our communities, as well as providing a new revenue stream in tough times.
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