CBC’s plan for 2008-2009 includes more channels
The CBC has released its plans for the next 18 months. They include:
Radio:
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Ongoing redevelopment of Radio One;
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Repositioning of Radio 2, which will launch this September; and
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Continued efforts to develop its digital audio platforms “to connect and intersect with new and younger Canadians in the format of their choice.”
Television:
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Expand the number of channels and platforms it owns or controls
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Supporting existing programs and launching new series in January
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Increasing commitment to local news
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Create a 24 x 7 news service
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Re-launch some of its major properties in January
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Develop more programming around hockey and soccer
Finances
CBC English Services budget (including a proportionate share for Documentary and excluding Olympics) for 2008-09 will be $773 million:
| $632 million in TV, of which: | ||
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$285 M |
is from government | |
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$263 M |
is from advertising | |
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$73 M |
is from subscriber fees | |
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$5 M |
is from syndication sales, and | |
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$6 M |
is from other self-generated revenues | |
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$141 million in Radio, of which: |
||
|
$140 M |
is from government, and | |
|
$1 M |
is from self-generated revenues | |
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(*Note that the Olympics will generate an incremental $42 M in revenues for ETV. |
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Veteran CBC Vancouver reporter passes away
Long-time CBC Television reporter 
David Roegele died late last week.
Born in 1923 in Saskatoon, he served in the Navy aboard a minesweeper before beginning his varied careers in truck driving, sales and his favorite, broadcasting for both radio and television.
His media career began in 1948 when he joined CKOK Radio and CHBC-TV, Penticton. In 1950, while continuing his work with CKOK and CHBC, Dave took on additional responsibilities as a Stringer for the Vancouver Sun and at the same time was Sports Editor and Columnist for the Penticton Herald newspaper.
He held several jobs with TV stations throughout B.C. and Washington state until he joined CBC Vancouver staff as a teporter in the TV Newsroom in 1966. He became a Journalistic Editor there in 1975 and continued in that role until his retirement in January, 1984.
From the NW Broadcasters’ obit article:
Dave was a member in good standing of the TV Newsroom Old Guard and like all of them, delighted in telling stories of the good old days in their cramped but happy quarters at 1200 West Georgia…. His family remembers that Dave was never at a loss for words, or without a joke to share.
Dave is survived by his wife of 64 years, Beverly, and several children. Memorial Services will be held Friday, May 16, 2008, 10:00 a.m. at Victory Memorial Park Funeral Centre, 14831 28th Ave. Surrey, BC. In lieu of flowers, Memorial contributions in Dave’s name may be made to your favorite charity.
Saturday, May 10
Heritage committee to hold hearings into CBC Radio 2 changes
The House of Commons standing committee on Canadian heritage will be holding hearings on proposed changes to CBC Radio 2.
Beginning Labour Day, Radio 2 will offer what the CBC describes as “a broader, richer spectrum of music,” with less classical and more diverse music.
CBC also has decided to disband the CBC Radio Orchestra, the last radio orchestra in existence in North America, to free up the funding for projects.
Committee member and NDP heritage critic Bill Siksay brought forward the motion to hold hearings.
“I’m concerned that the commitment to classical music in Canada is a key part of the Canadian culture. CBC Radio 2 has been a key player in classical music,” Siksay told CBC News.
Friday, May 9
Strombo Timely With The Hour on YouTube
George Stroumboulopoulos has people stopping him to shake his hand in many American states because of The Hour’s popularity due to widespread viewing on YouTube.
The Canadian Press reports that The Hour has been getting millions of hits on YouTube since the show started uploading segments last fall. The Hour is also one of the top video podcasts in Canada on iTunes. Strombo says that the show has a wide appeal since it fills a gap in late-night TV; unlike other late-night shows, it isn’t pure comedy.
Viewers as far afield as New Zealand and Australia are also members of the shows’ Facebook group.
Radio-Canada Website Blocked in China Again
Easy come, easy go.
After all of the happy stories in the last little while about the CBC website being unblocked in China, a CBC employee was not amused to learn that the Radio-Canada site has now been blocked in China again.
Cedric Sam, an Internet Analyst for Radio-Canada, posted an article about this on his own blog in French. Here is a translated summary of the article:
“For six months, the website of Radio-Canada was blocked to internet users in Continental China. A week after Hubert Lacroix sent a letter to the Chinese Ambassador regarding this situation, the Chinese were allowed to view Radio-Canada.ca and CBC.ca.
“While on a trip in the Chinese province of Guangdong, I noticed that while in Shenzhen Radio-Canada.ca was not accessible. A “server not responding” message appeared when I tried to access both the portal site and the news site, while CBC.ca was accessible.
“Two friends in Beijing confirmed with me the next morning that the Radio-Canada website was not available there either.”
Thursday, May 8
Alberta government bans CBC reporters
Is this even legal?
CBC reporters have been denied access to any embargoed media events held by the Alberta Legislature until after next year’s budget is handed down. So says government p.r. director Roxanna Benoit
Benoit says a CBC reporter “breached the trust” of the legislature’s budget lock-up system by talking about embargoed budget info before Finance Minister Iris Evans began her legislature speech.
In a letter to CBC regional director Don Orchard, Benoit wrote that “All CBC personnel are immediately denied access to embargoed media relations events by the Alberta government.
Homegrown Soccer Star Joins CBC
The former captain of Canada’s soccer team, Jason DeVos, will be joining CBC Television as a soccer analyst, beginning in a couple of weeks when Toronto FC plays Columbus.
DeVos retired from international soccer in 2004, and since has been playing professionally with Ipswich in the English Championship League.
DeVos is moving back to London, ON. He is 34.
MSNBC launches NewsWare
In other news…
MSNBC.com has launched an suite of news tools dubbed NewsWare that includes the more pedestrian e-mail alerts, how to add MSNBC to your mobile device, and RSS feeds, but they also include some mindblowing applications that make reading the news much more recreational and interactive
Spectra Newsreader
The Spectra Newsreader allows you to choose your preferred news subjects. The stories pertaining to these subjects then swirl around the screen, eventually being pulled down to your menu. You can either read the story that is in front of you, or save it to your newsreader and go on to the next. You can also change the display properties of the tool to a more traditional ticker style rather than the swirling spiral that makes your screen look like a tornado of headlines. My only beef with this was that you couldn’t actually click on a story until it had been “pulled down” to the bottom - once they get that worked out this will be genius.
NewsScroller
This tool can be added to whatever social media you prefer - MySpace, Yahoo, your Google front page, and Facebook to name a few. Adding it to Facebook is a painless process, and the ticker is graphically attractive. The one glitch encountered was that if you customize the ticker to your favourite news subjects before you add it to Facebook, you’ll have to go back and do it again once you finally do add it.
Decision ‘08 Leaderboard
This funky widget may also be added to your social media in the same style as the NewsScroller. Want an up-to-the-minute report on everything US election? Install this to ensure that you know down to the candidate how Hilary and Obama are doing. We imagine that this will be adapted and added to throughout the election process to make it more exciting.
Wednesday, May 7
Upload your 30-second advertisement to CBC Television?
Later this week, I’ll be presenting a keynote address to the B.C. Association of Broadcasters called The Future of Broadcasting in a YouTube World. One of the things I ran across in the research was how easy it’s become to put an ad on radio and/or television.
Putting an ad on any Canadian television station is still a somewhat labourious process involving traffic coordinators, account managers, ad agency reps, and so on
In the U.S., though, it can be as simple and point-and-click.
If you’re in television sales, you really owe it to yourself and watch this short video from Google on how their new ad-buying system works.
Monday, May 5
Long-time CBC executive Spencer Moore passes away
More than 200 journalists, politicians and community leaders attended a lunch Saturday to mark World Press Freedom Day. They also spent some time remembering former CBC executive Spencer Moore, who, according to the Ottawa Citizen, “transformed the annual lunch from a small event into an occasion of consequence.”
After organizers learned he had died, they briefly considered cancelling the event out of respect, but decided that Mr. Moore would have wanted the event to go on.
A brief bio from the Citizen story:
After attending the University of Saskatchewan, he went to work at CKBI, a private radio station in Saskatoon, before joining CBC Radio in Ottawa as a broadcaster and producer.
In 1958, he was sent to London to oversee the CBC bureau, returning to Canada in 1966 to organize the network’s Expo 67 coverage. From 1968 until his retirement in 1985, he worked at CBC headquarters in Ottawa, for part of that time acquiring the rights to Olympics coverage.
For the next 10 years he represented the CBC on the North American Broadcasters Association, where he developed his passion for press freedom, according to his son, Maj. John Moore.
Moore had been fighting cancer for several years.
Some memories left on an online memorial:
I have many fond memories of my collaboration with Spenser at CBC. He was a very dedicated CBC officer and a wonderful friend. We traveled together often and shared a lot of important events in the life of the Corporation. I know he will be sorely missed. Helen and I extend our sincere sympathy to Julie and the whole family. — Gerry Flaherty
The world of International Affairs and Broadcasting has lost a major pillar with this sad passing. While I followed Spencer by a few years, his name was always held high amongst our international colleagues. Spencer set the mark for professionalism, integrity and dedication at a high level, and challenged all those so inclined to match it, or better it, which few did. Toni and I have fond memories of the trips where we encountered Spencer at some function, and we both extend our condolences to Julie and the rest of the family. — Bob O’Reilly
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CBC Nova Scotia journalists win gold: Coverage of former cabinet minister Ernie Fage's fender-bender and the drug crime scene in Cape Breton have netted CBC Nova Scotia journalists three Atlantic Journalism Awards. [details] Comments (1) |
Mansbridge Surprised On-Air by Fete
Last week, Peter Mansbridge celebrated being in the main chair at CBC Television News for twenty years. To celebrate this anniversary, the producers snuck in a video of Mansbridge’s first broadcast twenty years ago in the following broadcast.
Video will pause for a bit at start. Surprise happens after Coyne’s comments.