Three CBC radio shows have been picked for distribution in the United States by Public Radio International.

The deal with see PRI offer Q, Wiretap, and As it Happens to public radio affiliates across the U.S.

The news follows a week-long trial broadcast of Q in several radio markets in the States last January.

I had the opportunity to discuss the news with the Executive Director of Q, Arif Noorani:

Q seems to be on a bit of a roll lately, what does the distribution deal mean for the show?
I think the deal is very exciting for the show, because it opens up our content to an even broader audience.

One of Q’s main goals is not only to create the show but to get that content to wherever people consume it, Youtube, podcasts, whatever, because there’s a huge audience online, and now there’s a huge potential audience in the United States.

How much of a factor was Q’s cross-platform strategy in this? And did the Billy Bob play into this as well?
I think our visibility on many platforms is a factor. They’ve never mentioned Billy Bob, but they’ve been introduced to Jian as a host, the mix of conversation, the style of in-depth interviews. There was awareness of the show. We didn’t have to sell them very much, because they already knew the show.

How will you balance the show for both a Canadian and American audience?
The mix we have right now is a good one. I don’t see changing that. It’s a show that has appeal to Canadians but also to an international audience.

Will the show in the States be the same as the CBC version, or is it being revised for the American distribution?
There’s no plans to change it. We’re committed to producing the show with Canadian content but also an international outlook. There’s no plans to change that.

But the version of the show will be an one hour version, just because that’s the U.S. format. We may have to take out some of smaller features to get it down to a one-hour version, but it’s no different than what we do already for the evening broadcast on CBC.

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	As It Happens, Q, Wiretap	Posted at 5:38 pm (20 Apr 2010)

This is a video of a guy listening to CBC Radio in his car. He posted it himself. I wish I could describe it with more excitement but, really, that’s all it is. Somebody unplug the cables. Clearly, the net video revolution has gone too far.
     He’s listening to As It Happens interview Frederick Forsyth about when he wrote “The Shepherd” and how the story came to be. It continues into the full telling of “The Shepherd” as read by Alan Maitland.
     Please stop the Internet. I want to get off.

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	As It Happens, The Odd File	Posted at 11:40 am (28 Dec 2006)

It’s Carol Off’s first day on the job at CBC Radio One’s As It Happens, and this morning’s Globe has a profile of her:

In 1986, she covered an international story that changed her life, she says. At that time, Off wanted to interview Benazir Bhutto, who was in jail at the time, and believed she had enough of an in to do it. She called the CBC Radio show, Sunday Morning, who told her that if she could score the interview, they would buy the story and put it on the air. Not having the money to cover her travel expenses, she sold most of her possessions, and bought a plane ticket to Karachi.

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	As It Happens, Personalities	Posted at 10:42 am (04 Sep 2006)