Radio: Television’s poor second cousin on CBC.ca
I’ve always been sad to see the difference between the CBC Television web site and the CBC Radio web site.
Considering these two links are prominently linked to from the two main buttons on the top of every CBC.ca web page, you’d think the radio one would be something a little more exciting than just a schedule…
How would you redesign the CBC Radio web page? If you care to have a crack at it, email me your mockup!
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| CBC Radio 1, CBC Radio 2, CBC Television, CBC.ca web site |
One of the reasons this page looks like this is that there isn’t funding for a position to maintain content on this page. Having said that, there are probably better solutions for this page than what is there.
But if we want a better online product we need better planning and an understanding across all media lines of the benefits of the web. There are many examples of Radio and Television programs that only allocate 1 percent of their budget to the web, and contact the New Media deparment two weeks before their product launch asking for a website.
Radio is so clearly the poor cousin it makes me sick. My favourite current example? Those endless Gill Deacon promos on CBC Radio One. Please! No more!
As I wrote in my blog last week: What the heck is CBC radio doing promoting the hell out of a TV show? Hello? I am listening to the radio. How about promoting what else will be on the radio. I might find that very intriguing, and perhaps even fascinating.
But drop the PromoGirl and the poor scripts they give MacDonald to voice.
There’s only one Gill Deacon promo per day on radio in the slot after the A block of the current – and it used to always be a promo for the National. One a day is not endless, and since it’s always at the same time, feel free to turn the volume down.
Philip – I don’t understand these territorial disputes. Why is it an issue if Gill Deacon is promoted on Radio? I’ve seen promos for The Current on tv? What’s wrong with giving each other a boost? Why the jealousy and resentment for people that work at the same company as you? The public does not see radio and television as separate entities, so why should we insist on imposing such a rigid segregation?
Philip Moscovitch asked “What the heck is CBC radio doing promoting the hell out of a TV show?”
The CBC is an incestuous tax dollar devouring free for all. CBC news was pitching the Little Mosque thing like there was no tomorrow…for weeks. News shows were leading with camels in the streets of Toronto before the shows first episode. Maybe it’s just desperation and hopefully the whole thing is on its last legs.
It would be embarrassing it didn’t cost my family so much of our hard earned dollars!
Among the Radio One shows, Afghanada in particular could certainly do with a boost.
Also sorely neglected, the online Program Guide, which is hopelessly out of date. Still on the menu: 2004 – A Year in Canada and This Is Wonderland, for example.
On the brighter side, Don Messer’s Jubilee is nowhere to be found.
“It would be embarrassing it didn’t cost my family so much of our hard earned dollars!”
The CBC gets about 800 million from the government, so it costs every man woman and child in the country about CDN$25 a year. Compare and contrast with, say, the UK, where the license for a single colour television will run you CDN$298 a year, or Ireland, where the license will cost you CDN$240. Obviously your kids don’t pay taxes. Only about half the population are of an age or situation to pay taxes, so you personally are actually paying about $50 a year towards the CBC. That’s a couple of large pizzas (or one x-large fancy Toronto gourmet pizza), or the price of a just-above-basic cable package for a month.
Of course, if you have 6 taxpayers in your household, all sharing one television, you’re paying $2 more than an equivalent household in the UK. But if you are in that situation, I’d say that your primary concern should probably be telling your 4 adult working kids that it might be time to leave the nest so you can enjoy your crochety golden years in peace.
800 million dollars! A year!
Brand identity & cohesiveness has been a sore point with the CBC regardless of media for years.
This is not “news”. lol