Amidst all the hoopla around CBC Television’s decisions on budgets given for promotion, some CBC Radio shows are independently producing their own viral videos and putting them online.

CBC Radio 3 has a headstart in this respect, with its popular and entertaining R3TV video podcast. But some Radio One shows are also quietly hitting the web.

Jonathan Goldstein, host of Wiretap, produced this short video around the holidays. What I like about it is it maintains the dry humour of the show, shows a bit behind the scenes, and… okay I’ll say it, it features a pug.

It’s not the only foray into video that Wiretap has made and probably won’t be the last. But the first Wiretap video came as a surprise to Goldstein and his producers. Some fan posted a bizarre video shot, apparently, in his home while listening to Wiretap. “I must admit when I initially watched it it sort of freaked me out,” he told me. “The radio is playing and it’s sort of a shaky cam, this guy shooting in his house. And I felt from everything I’ve learned from CSI Miami, I thought the final shot would be someone tied in a corner or something.”But Jonathan’s crew has gone on to produce a number of other videos. Jonathan says they check in periodically to see how many people have watched it, but “Howard’s mother-in-law kept checking and updating him most every time someone new watched it.”

Who needs the BBM?

Has your radio show used viral video to spread the word about your program? Was it successful?

The blogosphere is full of people who love CBC and hate CBC. At Vancouver’s BarCamp, the session I led about CBC’s future (”Hacking the Mothercorp“) was extremely well attended and you could tell that even people who disagreed with the direction CBC is going were still passionate about their public broadcaster. The more voices, the better, in my books.
     That’s why I was really interested to find a compelling point/counterpoint of CBC Radio’s programming policies on the popular blog Steel White Table.

• Point: Blogger Jody Cairns wrote about how much he loves Wiretap: “I’ve stumbled on the show many times and I’ve enjoyed it. People call into Goldstein and tell them their problems or talk about what’s on their mind. It’s funny, witty, intelligent, and original. Great radio.”

His brother, Phillip, then weighed in with his own thoughts:

• Counterpoint: “I’ve never been able to stay tuned in to WireTap because it feels completely contrived and scripted. I know some people say it’s good, but I can’t get past how unspontaneous it sounds. Like most of the new shows on the CBC these days, it seems pretentious. The show might have its moments like the one you described, but I’ve yet to tune in to such a moment.”

Personally, I love Wiretap. Jonathan Goldstein and I both hosted own own summer shows back in 2000 on the network and I immediately grew to admire his storytelling. He went off to work with Ira Glass (one of my radio heros) for a few years at This American Life, and you can hear that influence (and, I think, that of Joe Frank) in Wiretap today. Both providing outstanding lineages.
(If you have 20 minutes free, you must listen to Jonathan’s hilarious documentary “The Greatest Voicemail of All Time” — audio link is here; fast-forward to the last half of the show.)
     What do you think of Wiretap? What aspects of it do you think we should be doing more (or less) of?