CBC Radio and dramas
CBC Radio producer and engineer Joe Mahoney has some thoughts on his excellent blog about the state of CBC Radio’s commitment to drama programming:
We’re not upfront on the schedule. The odd time we’ll get a drama on Saturday morning at 11:30am, or inside Sounds Like Canada, but you can’t count on that….
We’re mainly a news and current affairs organization with a bit of arts and drama thrown in for good measure. I assume this is because that’s what most people want to hear on CBC Radio, they want to know what’s going on in the world when it’s going on (news) and then they want some background information on why it’s all happening (current affairs). Then, just when it all gets too much to bear, on comes The Vinyl Cafe and everybody’s happy again… for an hour. Until the next newscast.
What do you think? Should CBC Radio put a stronger focus on dramas? Do you listen now? Would you if there were, say, a nightly half-hour radio drama at 10pm?
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Yes! I would listen, especially if the series was made available as a podcast (perhaps delayed by a week) for poor expat souls like myself.
I listen to CBC radio in the car and just recently have started to listen to the podcasts. I wouldn’t be opposed to more dramatic content, but then again, I wouldn’t want it to bump out something more substatial.
There needs to be a balance.
Since I’m not listening all day long, I don’t know if the news is just repeated in the same way all day long. I’ve heard that it is from some people, but some people just say stuff like that to sound jaded and cool.
Point being, if the news is fresh, don’t bump it for drama.
10 PM? That might be a sticking point, although the podcast option would fix that somewhat…
Almost thirty years ago I was toured around England with other provincial, cultural representatives by the British Council. One of the stops which impressed me was at the BBC to visit with their regular radio drama division. They used top flight actors, many of whom came into London for a day of recording as well as young “up and comers” and served as a training ground for many dramatists who were writing for theatre, television and movies. A number of successful radio dramas were rewritten for other media. When I returned to Manitoba the Arts Council began a partnership with the local CBC station to produce short radio dramas which served the same purposes of training actors and dramatists while producing some fine radio. Regrettably, the experiment, though successful, was not continued by the CBC.
Radio drama can still provide a powerful function on the CBC today. It can offer training as I have already described and it can provide a vehicle for social commentary in a very relevant and timely manner for it is much less expensive to produce radio than television and theatre. The lack of drama on CBC radio is just another of the responsibilities which the corporation is shirking.
It has already been noted in other comments that the BBC archives their programs, including drama, for a week and perhaps providing podcasts would allow the productions to be listened to at the listeners’ convenience.
I’d love 5-10 minute dramas. I’d love continuing stories. And I’d listen to them throughout the day (which is mostly daytime).
I found myself absolutely wrapped up in docu-dramatization of Mozart’s early life on Music and Company recently. I have wide and varied interests, but the drama that I catch in the evenings just does not resonate with me. It always seems totally concerned with some kind of immigrant socialization, but maybe I just don’t hit the right listening times.
I think there’s a lot of room for interesting stories that maybe don’t qualify as theatrical drama, but more as human vignettes.
And I could do with much less news and current affairs. Even though I often find the material interesting, I find many of the reporters/actors less than palatable. Think Marcia Somebody-or-other who dramatizes the news for the west half of the country each afternoon …
If it would get Jian Ghomesi off the fricking radio, I’d let everybody from the Stratford Festival to Ms. Sanderson’s Grade 3 class in Fordwich Ontario put their plays on the public airwaves!
Seriously, there is an important role for drama on the CBC. I once heard a dramatization on Between the Covers of a novel written by a former colleague. It made me rush out and read the original book.
There can also be a conjuction between actors and news. When Sunday Morning was in its prime it used to run a segment called the Senator’s Diary, with all the recent political gossip from Ottawa. Bud Knapp, one of Canada’s finest actors, used to voice the piece, working from a script assembled by many hands. I know this because for the last year of its existence I was the person feeding the items to a Toronto magazine editor who would in turn crank out a script.
Alas, Bud went to that great smoke-filled backroom in the sky and the Senator’s Diary went with him. But, man, it was fun while it lasted!
I’d nove to hear more drama; that’s something I miss from Morningside.
As part of the “CBC is getting dumber every year” camp, I think there’s a lot of room to replace some of the fluff with a good dramatic programme.
I would love more drama. Radio drama is one of the highlights of radio for me. I was truly sad when “Mystery Project” was cancelled and now it appears that Monday Playbill is also gone. More drama would be wonderful – I would be a guaranteed listener. Look at what BBC does with its drama department – daily plays.
BTW – Will the last three remaining episodes of “Deep Night” ever be broadcast?
Aw, c’mon, Giann’s not so bad (except, perhaps his rappin’ stylin’s and his insistance that everyone pronounce his name just-so. He’s certainly a vast improvement over Sheilagh.
Drama is another matter entirely. I cannot think of anything more excruciatingly boring, except perhaps authors being interviewed. Let’s have more history, politics and current affairs. And while we’re at it, perhaps repeating the weather before /and/ after the news is a little too much?
And stop hiring Daniel Richler. Ick.
-JD
I wouldn’t mind more drama if you could find actors who do not sound so stilted as many do sound in your dramas — often sounds like they are reading rather than acting.
As for Sounds Like Canada — I like Shelagh (sp?) Rogers, except she laughs too often and too loudly.
Jian actually did better this summer than I thought he would. The pitiful playlist shows he has been stuck on do nothing for him — or this particular listener — and strike me as an unimaginative, uncreative way to fill air-time.
(For me the real summer put-off was Sean Cullan’s self-indulgent psychotic breaks Saturday mornings — does he ever stop laughing at his own supposed cleverness?)
Jian’s intros on SLC were sometimes clever, though often too long. And the technician or whoever is responsible for the background music during his intros played the music way too loud so it took away from what Jian was saying.
So yes to drama, but preferably in the evening.
With people who sound real, not like readers trying to sound theatrical.
Daly