Changes To CBC Radio

Every decision will always have its pros and cons.

Yesterday, the CBC announced changes to their three English radio services. There were a number of changes. Two of which, I would like to write about.

1. The Cancellation of Freestyle

Freestyle will be taken off the air in mid March and will be replaced with a new arts-based program, hosted by Jian Gheomeshi. This is really no surprise. Freestyle was a good show; but, it wasn't a great show. I feel the program's downfall was that it tried so hard to sound "off the cuff." However, anyone who listened to the program, could tell the dialogue was heavily scripted.

There is a saying: "Great radio is something scripted, that's made to sound spontaneous." The quote represents a fine art that is very hard to master. Freestyle made a good effort. Unfortunately, it didn't work out. The conversations were grammatically correct and flowed too well, to be unscripted.

2. Radio 3 strictly on satellite

Radio 3 will no longer broadcast their weekend shows on Radio Two. The service will only be available on their Sirius channel and through a podcast. To me, that is a real shame. I don't own a satellite radio. I also only have basic-lite Sympatico service. So the Radio 3 website and the 30-60 minute podcast, will not be friendly with my bandwidth. Alright, I am being selfish; its just that I really enjoyed the content.

Here is what I feel the CBC is thinking with this decision: The majority of those who are 18-35 years old are consuming more of Radio 3's content, then of Radio One or Two. The 18-35 group is also into new forms of media. It's likely that they will be listening to satellite radio and downloading podcasts more then any other demographic. It just makes sense to put the content and the content providers together. It's a way to satisfy the group's demand in a form that is more favoured.

I guess I have to start looking into getting a satellite radio. Or, I could listen to more campus stations.

The Hek