Next year, the CBC will begin commissioning works from orchestras across Canada. The money will come from savings it will find when it disbands the Vancouver-based CBC Radio Orchestra at the end of November.
The orchestra is the last radio orchestra in North America. The CBC says the decision simply came down to finances and that it couldn’t afford to maintain the orchestra. “Basically the orchestra was currently doing like eight concerts a year and for the money that we’re spending, we can’t afford to do that to get just eight concerts a year,”CBC official Jeff Keay told the Globe and Mail. He wouldn’t disclose the orchestra’s annual costs, but said it was under $1-million.
Keay also said the decision has nothing to do with the shift from classical music on CBC Radio 2.
The CBC Radio Orchestra was formed in 1938. Today, it has about 45 musicians, including regular and occasional players. The Globe’s Marsha Lederman, herself recently a former CBC Radio reporter, reported that some musicians were in tears over the news.
Ian Morrison, head of the “Friends of Canadian Broadcasting” lobby group says he believes the decision came because CBC Radio has now fallen under the jurisdiction of television executive (and now head of all CBC English media) Richard Stursberg. “Until now, somebody — I would assume [former CBC Radio vice-president] Jane Chalmers and her predecessors have somehow protected this special jewel in Vancouver … and now it too has been zapped.”
This is more bad news for the CBC Vancouver plant, which, as reported here last week, is losing a number of CBC Radio programs.
—- OPINION —–
My thoughts: First, I’m in the camp of people (and there are many) who actually support the expansion of CBC Radio Two to include different genres of music. While I enjoy classical music, I have never thought it was a wise use of the public airwaves to dedicate an entire radio network to just one type of music.
There are plenty of people who agree, but, as with anything, it’s those who are opposed to something who have the incentive to be vocal.
That said, though, the CBC does itself a huge disservice by falling back on the “We just don’t have the money,” rationale.
Anyone who has been in business understands that you always have the money if it’s a priority. What the CBC really means is this: “We have the money, but we have chosen to make this decision.”
Instead, we seem to haul out this “But we’re broke” argument as the buffer for whenever a tough decision has to be made. CBC Television didn’t like Intelligence? Or Chris Haddock? Then say so. Don’t say we didn’t have the money for promotion. We have the money to promote whatever we want (after all, there are plenty of promos and advertising for Q and The Hour), we have just chosen to spend our money elsewhere.
Tough decisions need to be made. The demographics of Canada just don’t support an all-classical station any more. But if we’re going to make a hard decision like dropping the orchestra, we should be forthright with our rationale, and not claim it’s because we don’t have the money for it. We do. We have just chosen to spend it elsewhere. There’s no shame in that.
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| Changes to CBC Radio Two |
I don’t believe this has nothing to do with the destruction of classical music on Radio 2, in fact, I think this goes hand in hand with it. I am devastated and revulsed by these new changes at the CBC. Radio 2 has long been known for its fine classical programming, the Radio Orchestra was an integral part of that reputation. The CBC is alienating its core audience of Radio 2 listeners who love and appreciate classical music. The shift to bland "soft jazz" and "easy listening" is not going to expand Radio 2’s listening audience, in fact, it’ll decrease it as more and more people look elsewhere for classical programming. There are tonnes of other easy listening stations across Canada, but outside of major cities like Toronto and Montreal, no other classical radio stations. It will not attract a younger audience, this I know as a fact, as I am a university student. There is currently a Facebook group titled "Save Classical Music at the CBC" that has over 8000 members (most under the age of 30) that don’t want the fine cultural programming on Radio 2 destroyed. Please reconsider these changes, please don’t turn CBC Radio into bland, unintelligent pap.
I was one of the people who found the changes to Radio 2 a positive step in the right direction, but I’m a little worried at the implications of this move. Perhaps it is the right move, as being the last radio orchestra could be a sign that this is the sort of thing radio isn’t supposed to be supporting. I’m not sure how to best organize my thoughts on this, really.
But that obviously is not preventing me from posting this comment.
I think the CBC needs to make some quick moves to demonstrate the positive impact of all of these changes, to show that classical music (and its adherants) really isn’t getting completely screwed. I can’t recall the last time I listened to the CBC orchestra so this change is not going to impact me, but I do feel the overall flavour of the CBC being put into question and I would like some of that question answered.
I wish to add my voice in condemnation of all that the directors of the CBC are doing to tear down this once magnificent institution. The CBC (especially radio) was once the voice for the arts in Canada, and was the uniting bond for the people of this widespread country. Over the last few decades gradual incursions have taken place to erode and chip away, but none so devastating as the back-stabs of the past few weeks, culminating in last night’s revelation of the demise of the once-proud CBC Radio Orchestra. What is it about fine music that the CBC is desperately trying to eradicate? It is what made the network lauded and appreciated both here and to the south in border states. My American friends and colleagues never ceased to remind me how very lucky we were to have CBC radio, and how lucky they were to be able to tune in to hear great music and great performances. I grew up with the CBC, as a listener and performer. I am very fortunate to have been a part of the CBC Orchestra from the great days of studio broadcasts and recordings of Canadian music and classical rarities under the direction of its pioneering founder John Avison, until my retirement in 2004. Through those years, the Radio Orchestra was the springboard which helped launch many great Canadian musical careers, artists which gained world renown thanks to the CBC (I need only mention a few, from Judith Forst to Jon Kimura Parker to James Ehnes and so on). With the demise of great music programs (Studio Sparks, Sound Advice etc) and the rendering to impotence of Disc Drive, the CBC is really heading down the tubes, the slippery slope of lowest-common-denominator pandering. I am very angry that the current directors are frittering away my stake in our heritage of public radio. It has been a source of pride in Canada that we have our own voice, identity and integrity, and have remained at arms length from that slimy swamp to the south of us that the Harper government can’t wait to cozy up to and emulate. What a shame and disgrace. To align the CBC to such a model of American-style commercial broadcasting, to follow the path of lowbrow entertainment rather than lead the way to a more sophisticated artistic vision, is unforgivable. I can’t help getting emotionally carried away in my rant. This is indeed a time of shame for Canada. Should the CBC continue to exist as anything other than just another cheap radio station, we will all remember these few years and months for the blows that toppled this giant. Thank goodness that great concert music and jazz will continue to be heard in halls and clubs, even if not on the airwaves of free public radio.
As a child, my parents didn’t take me to many concerts, and they didn’t know much about classical music or jazz. I learned so much as a child and a teenager from the classical and jazz programming on the CBC. I got to hear music by living composers, and Canadian composers, that I would never have heard anywhere else.
I am appalled at the cuts to classical music at the CBC, and horrified that the CBC has axed the Radio Orchestra. Saying it’s the only one in N. America is idiotic spin. The US doesn’t _have_ a government funded broadcasting service (except abroad, for propaganda purposes), and doesn’t fund the arts remotely as well as other industrialized countries do. In the EU, there are many thriving radio orchestras, as there are many state-funded radio stations.
Personally (and I don’t actually know anything more than what I’ve read), I suspect a lot of it comes down to the push to have more regional representation. If you’re only willing/able to give so much money to classical perfomance recording, you can’t have it all coming out of one place, not with the new Radio 2 mandate. It’s too bad that didn’t mean that they created new CBC Radio ensembles across the country, though…
I feel grateful to have seen the Orchestra perform a few years ago at Vancouver’s folk fest. When they were introduced as the "last radio orchestra in North America," you couldn’t help but look for wood to knock on.
Count me amongst those not heartbroken to see Radio2 move away from exclusively classical. When I do tune to FM, it’s for French radio2, which seems to do a much better job at balancing under-broadcast genres (well, mostly jazz, I suppose).
But I think that however you fall on the Radio2 decision, the loss of a national orchestra, of jobs for professional musicians… well it’s very difficult to see how this doesn’t hurt musical variety in the country.
Sorry–make that "…perform at Vancouver’s jazz fest."
Isn’t this just disgusting!!!?? What’s even worse is that the news of this was in the papers and on the radio in Toronto BEFORE the big wigs from CBC, flew out to Vancouver to tell the people who make a big part of their living playing in the CBC orchestra!DISGUSTING!
The CBC said initially that they want to spend the money on multicultural programming instead. However, are they forgetting the hundreds of works that the CBC orchestra has debuted by Canadian Composers of ALL nationalities that would not
have gotten a chance anywhere else to have their music heard? Now they’re saying that they want to use the money saved to broadcast works played by orchestras from across the country. Their noses must be 10ft long by now because they’re lying! The CBC is just being lazy! They want to go and set up microphones at concerts that other people pay to put on instead of nurturing Canadian composers and Canadian classical musicians in an orchestra that has been around for 70 YEARS!!! SHAME
ON THEM! SHAME ON THEM!!
"There are plenty of people who agree, but, as with anything, it’s those who are opposed to something who have the incentive to be vocal." So if you don’t speak up, it’s my fault your voice isn’t being heard?! And all those negative posts about the CBC changes are now somehow less valid, due to your theory? I don’t think so, and I hope you’re prepared to enjoy whatever music the CBC tells you that you enjoy. And no, Rachel, regional representation has nothing to do with it. The Toronto, Montreal, Winnipeg, and Halifax CBC Radio orchestras were killed off long ago.
This article’s author wrote:
"My thoughts: First, I’m in the camp of people (and there are many) who actually support the expansion of CBC Radio Two to include different genres of music."
Really? Are there any other people who support this move that aren’t CBC executives? Why is is that the Facebook group devoted to saving classical music at the CBC has swollen to over 8,400 people within only a few weeks? Why is it that the overwhelming number of comments on the CBC blogs have been highly critical of these moves? Why is it that bloggers have jumped down the throats of the CBC for its ill-advised moves?
My inbox is full of publicly sent emails from many of the cultural elite of Canada decrying the CBC for its destruction of Canadian culture. Many people across Canada are now speaking of demonstrations in front of CBC facilities in order to put their point across.
If there are any voices in support of these moves that are not located on the author list of this blog, I would sure like to hear them and engage them in conversation.
Problem is, there are none that I have found.
The issue isn’t actually about Radio 2 being a classical radio network or not.
Jennifer and Mark said on radio 1 in Vancouver that the corp can get 3 times as many concerts by taking the same money and recording other orchestras. Presumably they’re going to play those concerts on radio 2. Following that logic there should be more classical music on radio 2 as the result. (PR flak Jeff Keay told the Globe "the orchestra was currently doing like eight concerts a year")
The difficulty is that this isn’t that simple. Everyone knows that because musicians’ incomes are supplemented by the radio orch, there is a better quality of musician in the pool. Spending 30k once a year in a bunch of different places isn’t going to make any significant impact on the quality of music in those places - it’s just not enough investment to draw talent.
On another note, (and I’ve blogged about this elsewhere) the way the whole thing was handled here in Vancouver is an embarrassment to anyone who’s ever worked in the arts community here.
I agree completely with Mr Maffin’s Opinion. I think there is room for Radio 2 to grow and actually become Canada’s music station. I also agree that the corporation needs to be a bit more honest when it makes difficult and potentially controversial decisions. The outcry could have been predicted and the CBC should have been more proactive in presenting more honest reasons - for both the changes to Radio 2 and to the ending of the CBC Radio Orchestra.
But… if the orchestra is such a national treasure, perhaps Corus or CTVgm or even Canwest Global would step up and provide the funding. They certainly have enough channels that require programming. Oh, but then again, it’s easier, and more profitable, to show cheaper American crap. Why not complain about CTVgm and the mountain of money they make with an absolute minimum of Canadian content. Corner Gas is the first thing they’ve done since the Littlest Hobo.
Maybe one of our only slightly profitable banks would be willing to fund not just one radio orchestra, but three or four. Our financial giants make billions each year. Why can’t they step up to the challenge; we’ve more than paid for it with the ridiculous rates they charge and charge and charge again.
The CBC has always been an easy target in this country, even from its own audience. The airwaves used to belong to the citizens, not the corporations. Why are we reluctant to criticize the commercial broadcasters? Why do we allow them to invest so little in our national culture, and yet reward them so richly? The CBC is a treasure to be sure, but so too are the public’s airwaves. We need to expect more, and demand more, from all media outlets.
The CBC is full of good producers with highly developed culture. They want to continue to do their good work. But it gets hard when their mandate is being twisted around. When they say they will commission other Canadian orchestras, I hope they keep that promise, but I fear they will go the populist route and "commission" a song-writer who has little or no training writing for orchestra. Remember Shostakovich? Remember Mao? Is this the kind of cultural revolution we really want? Let us watch these changes very very carefully.
I’ve been lucky to work with the CBC as a composer on several occasions, the first of which was winning the Grand Prize at the 8th CBC National Young Composers’ Competition, a competition that was, along with the Young Performer’s Competition, discontinued a few years ago. The CBC Radio Orchestra commissioned two pieces from me, one of them a ‘tone poem’ on the creation story common to most West Coast First Nations’ Peoples called "Raven Steals the Light." This work was broadcast to all 20 member stations of the European Broadcasting Union in a fantastic cultural exchange that brought Canadian music to Europe and new European music to Canada. Has this all come to an end? No more cultural exchange? Because "we can’t afford it?" Just like the federal government closed the cultural office unceremoniously last year when our authors were winning prizes in Europe; and they had to go to the USA embassy for the reception. So I’ve been lucky. But a next generation will not have a National Competition in which they compete; they will not have an orchestra to play in or write for that doesn’t have to answer the the almighty dollar.
Why is there no credit for the reporter you got this story and all the facts from?
Eh?
I am extremely disappointed to hear of the demise of the CBC Radio Orchestra, but this is just the latest blow to what was a great institution, not only to the people of Canada but those of use here in the States living close enough to hear the CBC. I was devastated by the eviction of classical and other fine arts programming from Radio One, which I listened to regularly here in the Chicago area for years and years. Now there is nothing left on Radio One that interests me, except possibly the news. I enjoyed Radio Two when traveling in those parts of Canada where I could listen, but now it seems that the wholesale destruction of quality programming has spread to that network as well. It is a pity that the people of Canada don’t have a voice in retaining what little was left of quality radio broadcasting. It has long since vanished from the airwaves here in the States. Don’t follow our lead, please!
So, The CBC Young Composers competition has been cut,
CBC Records cuts classical the same year it wins a Grammy,
the CBC is saying goodbye to its CBC Radio Orchestra…
but wait…
The CBC also announced that it is going to make a movie about Don Cherry. Welcome to the new CBC
I keep hoping there will be some good news on this blog, but no such luck.
@Tod - agreed. You have rightly called shenanigans on the CBC.
@CBC2 - good on ya. Enough pandering to the 5%. $1M a year… that’s enough for a morning show budget in, say, Prince Rupert and Prince George. In my opinion a far more valuable resource in 2008.
I condemn your organization’s attempt to marginalize classical music. Demographics? As a matter of fact, many people in their 20’s and 30’s like myself love classical music and were exposed to it through the CBC. I know many less affluent folks who cannot afford to attend live concerts - they depended on CBC for their classical music. You CBC managers have a dated sterotype about classical music listeners - you assume they are elitist or old. I believe you are mistaken. Your own actions show that you are the elitist snobs - your actions tell me that if you cannot afford the $100 ticket to the opera, you don’t deserve to listen to classical music.
Your opinion tells it like it is.
If the CBC wanted to keep even a semblance of this orchestra, they could have down-sized it by half and kept it as the centrepiece of a corporate commitment to the classics.
I hope you don’t mind me saying that you fell into the trap a lot of non-Radio Two listeners do. There was comedy, jazz, Stuart McLean and folk and variety music on as well. Yes there were several orchestral music shows, and choral music, but it was not all classical.
The idea always was that both services serve listeners and you could switch back and forth if you liked.
Also on the nefarious plot front - it was so ridiculous for them to take the World Report news off Radio Two. It was eventually restored but what a lask of respect and knowledge of the audience that was. Of course listeners to Radio Two are just as keen to hear news as people on Radio One. They just don’t want people going on and on about in on current affairs shows.
Love what you do. Keep us free and conversing.
I would like to call your attention to the fact that the CBC has deleted every thread which expresses harsh disagreement with the decision to dismantle the CBC National Radio Orchestra. The short sightedness of this decision, the destruction of a 70-year old tradition and the disrespect to the Canadian music community are outrageous.
Within the first two days of the creation of a facebook group Save the CBC Radio Orchestra, 920 people joined, expressed their outrage and began an e-mail campaign.
To the moderators of this blog, please, do not censor my post - it will only indicate that you are afraid of the repurcussions of your decision.
Alexandra Fol
composer
Kathy Danby says it beautifully and for those who say the decision is disgusting, they are right. The orchestra did a huge number of works by Canadian/Multi-cultural composers, were sensitive to soloists (Amir Koushkani for example) and a look at the catalogue of recordings will prove that.
If the Orchestra was allowed by management to go back to the routine they had for the 20 years I am aware of three concerts per year and the rest comfortably recorded in Studio One without the additional cost of the venue etc. they could certainly save money.
And what about that black hole and I don’t mean their thinking in Toronto, I mean the selling of the air space where the parking lot used to be in Vancouver to make a million at least on the two new condo towers that are rising at Hamilton and Georgia? All I can see in trade is a little studio and some community office space where the cafeteria used to me.
They should come clean about all the real estate deals they are doing like dividing the Toronto building into half and renting the space while cramming the CBC people in the remaining area. Surely that will harm the creative atmosphere and make for a more unhappy workforce.
Are we in the real estate business or are we the public broadcaster?
Make that a 12′ nose, please.
This is utterly ridiculous on the part of the CBC executives. Shamelessly decimating the fabric of our classical culture piece by piece. When will it stop??
Folks–since obviously the decision makers at the CBC don’t know their asses from lambs’ quarters, they need a little help in the decision-making department. Accordingly I’m mailing in a donation of $50 to the CBC, earmarked for the CBC Radio Orchestra. The orchestra’s budget is a mere $1M; that’s only 20,000 donations of $50. I’m positive that that many Canadians will be willing to put up $50. Hell, I’ll throw in an extra $5 to convince the current CBC board of directors to stand up to the Canadian Taliban (er, sorry, the Conservatives), and resign en masse in protest over their obvious plans to gut our national broadcaster. Let’s face it, this is a fight to the finish. The Conservatives are softening the CBC up for privatization after the next election. Don’t let them! I’m mailing my cheque to Audience Relations
250 Front Street West
P.O. Box 500, Station A
Toronto, Ontario M5W 1E6 And making it out to "CBC/Radio Canada" with a memorandum "for CBC Radio Orchestra". If you want you can also send them the first paragraph above…:>) Please forward this message to as many folks as you can! Saving the CBC Radio Orchestra should be a piece of cake.
A Box set of Beethoven’s 9 Symphonies is the best seller on Amazon at #265 and the conductor is John Eliot Gardiner who was once with the CBC Radio Orchestra. I wonder what he thinks of the demise of his old orchestra?
The BBC and the proms just prove that classical music is not elitist. CBC must realise that as the only public radio provider in the country they must support classical music.
We are reminded too often that we are listening to Radio 2 and what we can look forward to if we keep listening, pity its not always true. Podcasts and online listening will not replace FM radio.
So "Sound Advice" is the next to go. When will the CBC Radio 2 stop its war on classical music! The CBC’s grasp of demographics is so superficial and probably dead wrong. The young crowd already use the web and their ipods. What this policy is doing is simply forcing the core audience (my generation) to also excercise our computer skills where we can listen to NPR and BBC etc. I already use my ipod on long trips. When we are gone, you won’t get us back. Then your funding will be further reduced and some Tory government will, quite justifiably find no further use for you. The space that CBC 2 is vacating leaves a huge void. I am surprised that we have not yet seen a subscription-based classical music station apply for a country-wide license. Satellite radio could do it but they have not seriously discovered classical music.
Someone in Canada has been made very happy by Mr. Steinmetz and Ms. McGuire’s forward planning commitments for the 2008/09 season. Those unknown organizations will already be commissioning new orchestral works and planning on their premieres next season with a CBC Radio remote broadcast commitment. The trouble is, the money for these projects comes not from new sources but from internal pillaging of other CBC projects budgets. In this case the easy target was to eliminate the CBC Radio Orchestra with its $600,000 annual budget. Mr. Steinmetz, a production assistant at CBC who worked his way up somehow in the CBC to become Director of Programming has raided the national cultural identity piggy bank and is pawning off a seventy year old cultural treasure. Not even pawning off, just simply destroying it. If he was in charge of the National Art Gallery and proposed to start selling off the old national art treasures in order to commission up-and-coming artists I doubt he would be heeded. Thank heavens he is not in charge of inter-continental water distribution else he would sell it off as well. In fact, any resource industry would tremble in fear if Mr. Steinmetz was to be its director. Oil? We don’t need the evil stuff, give it away and we’ll all bike to work. We hear of his kind of mentality in cash-starved post-war societies who, to this day, raid their national art galleries to sell historical art treasures to afford food or fuel or graft but Canada, one of the most fortunate countries in the world, has no place for that kind of small-minded bureaucratic thinking. More worrying is that the CBC Board of Directors endorse Steinmetz’s and McGuire’s plan to kill the CBC Radio Orchestra. Focus your outrage and condemnation to <ht.lacroix@cbc.ca> . He is the new CBC president and has the power to restore the CBC Radio Orchestra’s funding and demote Steinmetz and McGuire for their hare-brained scheme. It was too hard for Steinmetz and McGuire to go Parliament and present their case for additional funding so they raided the country’s inheritance instead which just happens to be in the control of the CBC. Steinmetz, McGuire and Mr. Lacroix must be held accountable and the CBC Radio has its shareholders: the citizens of Canada. Do it now because the orchestra must commit to its planned 2008/09 season soon for soloists , halls, production staff and broadcast sales. There still is a bit of time but not much!!! Judas was stigmatized for life, Archduke Colloredo is now known only for his ill treatment of Mozart in Salzburg and Steinmetz and McGuire will be remembered solely for dooming the CBC Radio Orchestra. They must be stopped and more competent managers installed.
I thought Richard Stursberg reached the lowest level of stupidity when he was at Telefilm some years back, and decided to contract with an American talent agency to find for good Canadian stories for feature films my! my! wasn’t that clever.
now he’s gone one better. Not having damaged Canadian English feature film enough - the audience percentage attending English Canadian features fell to below 1% while he ran telefilm - now he’s decided to attack a canadian cultural institution - Radio Two - and ghettoize classical music into a time period when no one (except retirees and CBC executives) can listen to it.
the rest of the broadcast day with blend of pop and oh yes those 30,000 pieces of music - foolish self-serving statistic - like counting the number of words/paragraphs/chapters written by Canadina writers - really they think we are complete morons - don’t they?
In the process stiursberg-mcguire and steinmetz (none of them, I understand have any music background) have fired, let go, not rehired some of the most intelligent and entertaining presenters of the classical music form: solmes, friesen, allen, charboneau, phillips - to name but a few.
they want a fight - yand i think they’ve got one. and maybe with the huge cbc budget’s and all the hack pr people and speech writers maybe they’ll win a round or two; but i think they’ve not even begun to face a fight - because i’ve never seen such anger, frustration and determination as i’m seeing/reading on countless web sites and commentaries about rhis gang of three and their outrageous, shameful and ill-thought attack on Radio Two.
I think this one is going to make Stursberg little escapade with the american talent agency and it’s short-lived contract - oh yes the film community won that one - t seem like a walk in the park.
I think Radio Two listeners are only starting to get angry.
They will learn that we are not stupid; that we are not confusing quality with genre as Stursberg’s speech writer suggests in todays Globe and Mail.
We are defending an important Canadian institution from philistines and schmucks.
The same debate was undergoing when Espace Musique, the SRC equivalent to Radio 2, changed its format two or three years ago. There was a lot of fear in the classical music listener community that Espace Musique was solding out to popular trend.
Today, music diversity on Espace Musique (emerging music, jazz, classical) actually allows music lovers to discover other type of music then what they listen to usually.
Mixed with a strong website where you can listen to the exact type of music you want (Espace Classique, Bande à part etc), those who want to listen to only classical get the chance to do so.
I personnally think the air and the mandate of CBC/SRC is to give diversity. With today’s web opportunity, it can serve as an introduction and the web as a substancial complement.
I’m not a CBC executive and I say, don’t fear improvement and change…
Regarding the orchestra, there are many wonderful canadian orchestra that we almost never hear. I’m unfortunatly too young to have seen the great years of CBC Orchestra but I think promotion of those existing in the country is a good move.
Wow, what a lot of emotional name calling and finger pointing. I feel like I’m reading an all or nothing rant vs. an intelligent discussion. Take for example the whole thing about where is the orchestra money being redeployed. Is it classical commissions or more mutlicultural programming? Black and white, truth telling or lying. It’s all so either or. What I suspect is really meant is that over time the monies will go to all of the above.
Sure it’s sad that CBC has made a decision that will hurt some people . But let’s not forget that even non-decisions have that effect. If CBC hadn’t made this one, what about the other orchestras in this country, what about musicians who perform other genres? Don’t they get equally hurt by the non-support of our public broadcaster? Since when does classical music represent the only art form?
Frankly, the decision to broaden the scope of the kinds of art CBC supports is long overdue. I say thank you CBC for finally recognizing that your duty is not just lovers of classical music (who sound more like spoiled children than reasonable adults). I too love classical music but not to the exclusion of all other kinds of music. And more importantly, not to the exclusion of all other Canadians.
Gail, I respectfully disagree with your comment and I don’t think you are a Radio 2 listener. Radio 2 as it is today before the outrageous changes, had lots of variety: Classical during the commuting hours, Jazz during dinner, New Music Pop on weekday evenings and Rock and Friday and Saturday nights. What they are doing is kiling the wiping out the last vestige of of classical music as opposed to sharing the airwaves with other music types. I enjoy jazz and rock as well but believe there is a place for classical music when there are people around to listen to it. I certainly cannot turn to commercial radio as it is all talk shows and top 40 club music which I can get at any cheap nightclub in Vancouver. Classical music by the way isn’t some niche elitist thing either as long as it is accessible and affordable. For proof of that, I invite you to visit Victoria in August to see the Symphony Splash - where the Inner Harbour becomes a giant outdoor concert stage for the Victoria Symphony Orchestra. About 40,000 people of all ages and backgrounds crowd the harbour and celebrate the classics. The problem is the the mandarins who seem intent on taking classical music away from the public.
Re -Destruction of the CBC Radio Orchestra
This is part of a slow drift towards us becoming americans.
In any (future) dictatorship the arts and culture are always the first to be attacked.
Pity
I guess if you repeat a lie enough times it starts to be believed. CBC Radio 2 and its predecessor, CBC FM were never exclusively classical. There has always been a good mixture of genres. What is happening now is that the classical part of that mixture is being severely diluted. A simple question to the CBC - how many hours of classical music was there on radio 2 per week before the new policy and how many will there be after complete implementation of the new policy? Surely that is a simple question.
Another question - why only two CBC networks? Has the country not matured enough to merit at least one more radio network? The number of niche TV channels keeps expanding, but radio stays the same.
I would estimate that this blog is about 75 to 80 percent against the current policy. However, CBC is studiously ignoring this response. This is a Canadian tradition, ask what the public wants and then do what you intended to do anyway.
But CBC Radio 2 was never devoted to just one type of music! Even when they played more classical music, CBC 2 was by no means entirely classical.
CBC management really needs to rethink the current re-shaping of Radio 2 and the dissolution of the CBC Radio Orchestra. A country can have a unique identity amongst nations, only by the degree to which its institutions are unique; and cultural institutions chief among them. Art feeds the spirit of its people, whose spirit is in constant need of feeding, in the face of the global realities of our times; like the pandemic of AIDS that is killing 2.5 million people a year in sub-Saharan Africa, or the unbelievable stupidity of global warming, to name only two. Art, and classical music in particular, soothe the spirit in a manner that encourages compassion and represses greed. There is a global need to balance fear and hatred, with that which nourishes harmony and good will amongst us - Mozart speaks to the soul.
CBC radio 2 and the CBC Radio Orchestra contribute to the accomplishment of this need for Canadians and for the large number of our southern friends who listen in “over the fence” for that matter. These institutions play a unique role in shaping the Canadian identity.
For god’s sake, find the money somewhere else, or change to management who can. Restore radio 2 programming to its recent but former excellence and leave the orchestra alone.
Radio2 has plenty of diversity already. Leave the art music alone.
I just logged on to the BBC Radio 3 to listen to this morning’s program - it is still playing as I type this. There was a 3 minute news bulletin followed by Glazunof and Mozart is to follow. There are various genres throughout the day - some jazz, some “world music” and then a classical concert in the evening. It looks so sensible and easy but then it is clear that the people who scheduled this love good music and don’t have an idealogical agenda. There is nothing remotely resembling Gregory Charles and similar amateurish rubbish. My next move is to connect a computer to my hi fi amplifier and my good speakers and then CBC Radio 2 and Mr Stursberg can go hang.
Still, I would rather just turn on my radio and I imagine when CBC has tired of Mr Stursberg’s destructive experiments we will get back to common sense and I will be able to do just that if I am so inclined.
In the late 90’s “it it ain’t broke, break it” was fashionable in industry. Managers were hired to turn companies up-side-down. They made a big mess to make their name and then moved on to mess up something else. Eventually, companies got tired of the mess, the dissatisfaction and the losses this produced and got back to basics. Stursberg is behind the times and he should have been in the private sector which has the advantage of weeding out his type of nonsense because ultimately it does not pay.
In all this, I feel badly for the many fine Radio 2 presenters who are being shuffled aside by a stupid management decision. I have thought of these people as friends who performed professionally and who cared deeply about the music they presented. The outrage expressed to date is not likely to subside, but I think that we have to expect that the whole catastrophe will continue to unwind. CBC will have jetissoned most of their present Radio 2 listeners and will try to replace them with an an ill-defined community that prefers a form of music that is neither rock, oldies but goodies or C&W. Radio 2 wil become an irrelvant waif until/ unless there is a major shake-up of CBC management. I hope it comes soon.
I grew up with the CBC, which was incredibly instrumental in developing my artistic life. Being immigrants, we couldn’t afford to attend the opera, ballet, orchestra performances . . . but the CBC opened up my life to classical music. As a result, pursuing my artistic studies was that much more pleasant and educational, being able to tie in music, dance, visual arts, learning to play an instrument.
The CBC Orchestra and Radio 2 must be kept intact; they are THAT important to every child’s education.
CBC would do better to keep the orchestra and, instead, focus on improving its journalistic strength which, sadly, has deteriorated. CBC Management must re-think its strategy and priorities, and keep our culture alive.