It's been a week. The most significant thing for me on a personal level is that I'm no longer hosting Daybreak North. This isn't unexpected, it was always supposed to be a temporary gig, but what is unexpected is the feeling of saying goodbye I have a result. I always knew that audiences grow attached to their favourite radio hosts, what I didn't know is as a host you grow attached to the audience. I wrote about it here.
I do still have a job- the job I was actually hired to do, which is associate producer on Daybreak meaning I'll have more time to research stories, produce tape and hopefully put together another series. Unfortunately, that isn't the case for all of my colleagues as the equivalent of 657 positions are being cut from the CBC as a whole. This has prompted another round of "whither the CBC?" think-pieces, and there are a number of points I'm pondering:
"CBC matters most in the small places, the ones many Canadians will never visit. It is a window on the outside world for those who live there. And a way of drawing back the curtain for those who don’t, so they can peer inside. I like to think of this window metaphor in the evening, because that’s when the light is right and you can catch a glimpse of yourself, as you look at what’s on the other side."
- Jody Porter, CBC Journalist and William Southam Journalism Fellow
"We can't keep trying to do everything we're doing a little bit lousier."
- Heather Conway, VP of English Radio and TV for CBC on the Current
"Public sidewalks cannot be turned over to the free markets... there are certain things that we agree are a public good."
- Jesse Brown, former CBC-er and host of the podcast Canadaland being interviewed on Sun TV
"Look, if you don't believe in public broadcasting, that's a perfectly legitimate view. But if you do believe in public broadcasting, then maybe it's time to assert yourselves, Canada."
- Jian Ghomeshi's opening essay on Q
See also: "How should we remake the CBC? Cultural minds weigh in" (I'm particularly interested in the question of what the CBC would look like if it were created today), Former BBC head in defence of public broadcasting, and "CBC still needs radical surgery to survive."
This is also as good a time as any to point you towards Broadcasting Canada, a fascinating series of interviews with CBC journalists and personalities about their relationship with the CBC, its past and its future.
And finally, from Friends of Canadian Broadcasting, a chart of funding cuts to CBC from Mulroney onwards:
Audio Production
On the fun side of radio, I finished producing a story I'd been meaning to get around to for a while. Today, Chris Gaskin is a comedian touring across North America- but once upon a time he was just a struggling stand-up in Prince George who had an unlikely day at the fair...
I Heart PG Moment of the Week
Just before winter, I was riding my bike to work when I saw a mother deer and three fawns running alongside me. Then this week while carpooling in, my passenger noticed three deer on the side of the road- same spot I saw them in the fall. Then the fourth came across the road. Glad to see they all made it through the winter, in the middle of the city.
Speaking of biking to work...
I just got my winter tires off, and a full set of repairs, and ordered upgraded shocks. Total cost: about the equivalent of four tanks of gas, and that will last me the rest of the year. Biking is cheap and if you're considering taking it up this year the PG Cycling Club is hosting the 6th Annual Bike & Bottle Drive on Sunday. Aside from the price, why else should you consider biking? Because doctors are now prescribing bikes for your health, and Olympic medalist Denny Morrison says it's a good idea, too.
Speaking of Denny Morrison... (and fluoride, and fast food, and...)
I interviewed him this week, as well as columnist Peter Ewart on why he fears a monopoly on B.C. forests in hurting the industry, Northern Health on why fluoride should stay in Prince George tap water, my colleague George Baker on why there aren't more fast food restaurants in Prince Rupert, a UNBC researcher on why wind farms are safe for birds, and a retired train engineer on the 100th anniversary of the Grand Trunk Pacific railway (and he really made me want to take a train trip).
A lack of professionals
"I like how quickly you've become a disgruntled northerner," I said to someone who recently moved here from Vancouver, surprised at the lack of certain resources and support given to the upper half of the province. The theme of the week was the lack of professionals in northern B.C. In Fort St John, a walk-in clinic is shutting down because as the population grows, the number of doctors is shrinking, and in most of the north it's next to impossible to get a physiotherapist because they aren't being trained here (neither are engineers). It's enough to make you ask why more more money isn't being invested in training professionals here, which I did.
Prince George: Never heard of it, or don't like it
Coincidentally, Initiatives Prince George released a study this week outlining the most hard-to-find professionals in Prince George (doctors, engineers, and university professors among them), as well as people's perceptions of the city across the country (most don't know it, those who do have negative impressions). As part of an effort to counter that negative perception, there is a proposal at Monday night's council meeting to brand Prince George "The Volunteer City." At 62%, Prince George actually has the most volunteers per capita in the province- but I'm curious if that number would convince anyone to move here.
Vine interlude
The Antidote to Antipathy
Through a mutual friend, I connected with community organizer Dave Meslin this week for an afternoon coffee at Books and Company. Meslin was in town speaking to local government workers about how to better communicate with the public, an expanded version of my all-time favourite TED talk. Any chance I have to get someone to watch it I'll take, so go watch it.
Community Notes:
Through a mutual friend, I connected with community organizer Dave Meslin this week for an afternoon coffee at Books and Company. Meslin was in town speaking to local government workers about how to better communicate with the public, an expanded version of my all-time favourite TED talk. Any chance I have to get someone to watch it I'll take, so go watch it.
Community Notes:
- the Community Arts Council launched artmap.ca to provide a complete guide to arts group sin the region
- Seven northern B.C. musicians made it to the CBC Searchlight regional semi-finals. Go vote for Black Spruce Bog, King Crow and the Ladies from Hell, Red 7, the Caley Watts Band, the Magician, Twin Peaks, and William Kuklis. Also read this article in the Prince George Citizen that uses my Facebook page as a primary source.
- Holy cow, could rapid transit actually be coming to Prince George?
- King Crow and the Ladies from Hell coming to Prince George June 7. Great group out of Terrace.
- Would you go to a steampunk murder mystery in Barkerville?
My jams:
Horses and Bayonets cover Justin Timberlake and it's surprisingly good, Viceroy remixes Nelly and it's really surprisingly good, and Lorde jams with Nirvana and no one is surprised it's good.
Reading list:
"Frankly, I don’t see much difference between firing someone for wearing a hijab or hounding them from their job because they oppose gay marriage". The perfect song length is two minutes and forty-two seconds. Windows XP is dead, time to switch to Linux Mint. Also, it's time to change all your passwords (including those at UNBC). Archie Andrews (yes, that Archie Andrews) is going to die. Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary are the most adaptive cities on the planet. In Holland, all the newspapers have a paywall: the same paywall. When choosing a major, it's best to choose something you're interested in. Billy Bragg on music streaming: "who among us didn't start out doing gigs for free in order to build an audience?" "Great creative work isn’t about what you dream of making; it’s found in what you actually make happen." If divorce rates are rising, why are we still having affairs? Because we like our spouses, just not ourselves. The deathless song of the summer debate . Good News For People Who Like Bad News turns ten. Why don't we care about Vimy Ridge? The Pixies were an imaginary band. Jim Flaherty's example. The plastic that popularized canoeing is running out.
Horses and Bayonets cover Justin Timberlake and it's surprisingly good, Viceroy remixes Nelly and it's really surprisingly good, and Lorde jams with Nirvana and no one is surprised it's good.
Reading list:
"Frankly, I don’t see much difference between firing someone for wearing a hijab or hounding them from their job because they oppose gay marriage". The perfect song length is two minutes and forty-two seconds. Windows XP is dead, time to switch to Linux Mint. Also, it's time to change all your passwords (including those at UNBC). Archie Andrews (yes, that Archie Andrews) is going to die. Toronto, Vancouver, and Calgary are the most adaptive cities on the planet. In Holland, all the newspapers have a paywall: the same paywall. When choosing a major, it's best to choose something you're interested in. Billy Bragg on music streaming: "who among us didn't start out doing gigs for free in order to build an audience?" "Great creative work isn’t about what you dream of making; it’s found in what you actually make happen." If divorce rates are rising, why are we still having affairs? Because we like our spouses, just not ourselves. The deathless song of the summer debate . Good News For People Who Like Bad News turns ten. Why don't we care about Vimy Ridge? The Pixies were an imaginary band. Jim Flaherty's example. The plastic that popularized canoeing is running out.
And finally:
- Prince George MLA Mike Morris performs with Chris Hadfield- who has the better moustache?
- A better embedder (for those of us who like CBC but don't live in 2007)
- Check it out: you can see a narwhal skeleton at the Exploration Place right now:
And that's it for this time. If you liked this newsletter, maybe pass it along to someone else you think might be interested? And if you have any comments, feel free to hit "reply" to share them. Finally, as a way of future-proofing and making the archives of this thing more browsable, I've gone all retro and started cross-posting on Blogger. So if you want to easily find things, maybe go there.
- Andrew
