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The CBC is throwing it’s support behind Culture Days, a six-day celebration of the arts in Canada.

Today in Toronto, the CBC hosted a series of events around the theme ‘the art of broadcasting.’ A number of CBC radio and television personalities participated in the day long series of events.

That culminates in a one-hour special tonight at 7pm hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, George Stroumboulopoulos, and Bob Mackowycz featuring Great Lake Swimmers, Bedouin Soundclash, and Sloan.

Then in on September 25 CBC Ottawa studios will hold an open house. Visitors can get a glimpse inside the newsroom, sit behind a TV news desks, and read scripts into a microphone like a radio personality.

On Saturday, CBC St. John’s is holding an open house. Finally, on Sunday September 26, CBC Vancouver audiences will have a chance to meet stars of CBC shows like Heartland, Battle of the Blades, Being Erica and radio personalities like Rick Cluff, Margaret Gallagher and Sheryl MacKay.

The idea of culture days is to to raise awareness and accessibility of the arts, and to celebrate the creative spirit and vitality of communities across the country through thousands of free, interactive events that unite artists with their public.

There are more photos of the Culture Days events here.

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	Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver	Posted at 5:49 pm (23 Sep 2010)

Alan Neal will replace Adrian Harewood as the host of CBC Ottawa’s afternoon drive show All in a Day.

Harewood left the show to join the local TV evening newscast.

Neal will be a familiar voice to listeners. He formerly hosted Bandwidth and Ontario Today. He has been a ‘guest’ host on All in a Day for some time.

Neal believes in reaching out to his audience, he’s a regular at community events, and connects with listeners through his Twitter account. He says using social media brings immediacy to the show. ”In a world of instant communications, the program needs to reflect peoples’ desire to interact in the moment — and that’s what I try to do from the hosting chair,” says Neal.

Once the news was announced, an number of people on Twitter congratulated Neal. “He was the obvious choice really,” Bob Durie, a local listener, said.

The show is on top-rated drive show in Ottawa.

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	CBC Radio 1, Ottawa	Posted at 9:49 pm (24 Aug 2010)

Keith Boag, the CBC’s outgoing chief political correspondent, told the Hill Times that the changes at the CBC’s parliamentary bureau  are “probably the most sudden and dramatic change that we have ever seen in the Ottawa bureau.”

“There are big changes coming but I think there are lots of reasons to be excited about that, and optimistic about it. Change is good,” Boag said.

Boag also praised his replacement, Terry Milewski, “When Terry is on you have a tendency to turn the volume up, not down,” Boag said to the paper.

For his part Milewski said he wasn’t relishing swapping Vancouver’s climate for Ottawa’s, “A thrill doesn’t run down your spine when you get the news that you’re to be condemned to five months of hellish winters,” he said. Nevertheless he told the Times that he’s looking forward to the prospect of a “juicy period” in politics.

The full Hill Times article his available here.

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	Ottawa, Parliament	Posted at 9:49 pm (27 Jul 2009)

In a note issued today, CBC Radio executive director Jennifer McGuire announced that the late spring BBM radio ratings numbers were out, and “the numbers are good” for CBC Radio One and Two:

Nationally, Radio One and Radio 2 together reached 1.8 million Canadians in the eight markets surveyed. The two networks combined reached 12.8% of Canadians surveyed, and captured a share of 11.9, up slightly from the 11.2% delivered the previous period (S2 2006).

The biggest gains were in Edmonton (13.6 share, up from 7.2 last summer), Ottawa (Radio One overall up to 18.8 from 14.6 last spring, with a 25.2 share for Ottawa Morning) and Calgary (Calgary Eyeopener up to 13.6, from 7.2) while Vancouver, Montreal and Winnipeg also showed gains. But in Toronto the numbers dipped overall to 5.4, down from 6.0.

-PG

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	CBC Radio 1, CBC Radio 2, Ottawa, Toronto	Posted at 4:21 pm (16 Jul 2007)

CBC Ottawa producer Danny Malanchuk died yesterday from complications following heart surgery.

Danny joined CBC news in 1980 as a writer/broadcaster on regional TV programs produced in Ottawa, moved to CBOT and then became one of the founding producers at Newsworld in 1989. In 2000, Danny moved to the Parliamenary Bureau as a field producer.

He leaves his wife, Lorna and son, Andrew, 12. The family has asked that donations be made to the Ottawa Heart Institute. Funeral arrangements have not been announced.

During his 27 years at the CBC, Danny was active with the Canadian Media Guild and served on local executive committees and attended national meetings and conventions as a delegate.

If you have any memories of Danny, feel free to leave them here.

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	Obits, Ottawa	Posted at 12:52 pm (30 May 2007)

Now that the “Living” series (the regional daytime TV shows) have started to get their footing, I thought I’d do some quick captures of what the various shows are covering. This is taken from a couple of days last week.

Although what I don’t understand: In some cities, the show is called “Living [City]” and in others, it’s called “Living In [City]“. I know it’s not a big deal, but I hate inconsistencies.

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	Living In, Maritimes & Nwfld., Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto, Vancouver, Winnipeg	Posted at 12:08 pm (27 Feb 2007)

Former CTV Television anchor Wei Chen will become the new host of CBC Radio’s Ontario Morning beginning Monday. Chen was an anchor and investigative reporter for CTV between 1997 and 2003, and was host of Canada AM Weekend prior to that. Since then, she spent time at upstart TV station Toronto 1.
     Chen worked at CBC before, as an early Newsworld and regional reporter. She was twice nominated for a Gemini Award and won a New York Festival World Medal.

Random factoid: Chen was singer-songwriter Jann Arden’s university roommate.

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	Ottawa, Personalities	Posted at 3:45 pm (05 Jan 2007)

Turns out Living in Toronto isn’t the only show that will launch soon (see previous post). The total list is:

• Living Vancouver

• Living Calgary
• Living Saskatchewan
• Living Winnipeg
• Living in Ottawa
• Living in Toronto
• Living Montreal
• Living East (based in Halifax with content from Nova Scotia, PEI, & N.B.)
• Living Newfoundland & Labrador

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	B.C. Interior, Living In, Maritimes & Nwfld., Montreal, Ottawa, Saskatchewan, Vancouver, Winnipeg	Posted at 2:27 pm (05 Jan 2007)

Ever wanted to be a famous TV news anchor? Now’s your chance.

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	Asides, Ottawa, Working for the CBC	Posted at 5:55 am (29 Aug 2006)

Rita Celli, formerly the Ottawa anchor of CBC News at Six, has been selected as host of CBC Radio One’s Ontario Today — CBC Radio One’s noon-hour news and current affairs program, heard Monday to Friday across the province from 12 to 2 p.m. (1-2 in Toronto).
     Celli replaces Alan Neal, recently named as host of CBC Radio’s Bandwidth and Fuse. Celli begins Sept. 11.
     A new host for CBC News at Six has not yet been announced.

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	Ottawa, Personalities	Posted at 11:39 am (24 Aug 2006)