Posted on 08/24/2005 2:16:31 AM PDT by Clive
Due to a labour disruption, regular programming on CBC 1 and CBC 2 is unavailable at this time. We apologize for the inconvenience.
Enough already with this %$#@ irritating apology every few minutes on CBC Radio. What, CBC, you think your listeners are so dumb that they have to be told over and over again? What an insult. Everybody knows CBC listeners are the self-proclaimed creme de la creme of the intelligentsia; if they don't know by now that their stratospherically intellectual dosages of regular programming have been deep-sixed by the labour disruption, our country is in serious trouble.
Being that I'm a peon, I do not listen much to CBC Radio, but since the lockout, I've tuned in several times, curious to hear what's replacing what and I'm hereby informing CBC that it does not need to apologize for the inconvenience because I can't tell the difference from what I'm hearing now and what I heard before when I'd sometimes switch over to help me sleep; I, for one, am NOT inconvenienced.
How dare CBC presume we're all "inconvenienced?"
I am not being inconvenienced by not punching the button and hearing some singing disaster, unknown for good reason, tunelessly wailing away to the sound of bongo drums and flutes; I am not being inconvenienced by not hearing a marathon interview with a no-name author from Minsk who has written a book on the latest diesel engine technology.
But, that's me -- am I wrong? Am I in the minority in this country?
Empty and depressed
Is CBC right, that it is so vital to the intellectual and emotional fibre of the nation that Canadians are now suffering severe inconvenience, their lives empty and depressed, their trauma too frightening to contemplate, that without CBC as the stimulant of our meaning and knowledge, our very survival as a nation is at risk?
I set out across the city, randomly asking Ottawans how it is they're able to cope, if, indeed, they are coping, without regular programming on CBC Radio 1 and 2. A sampling:
Mike Dewan is co-owner of Britton's, the international newspaper and magazine shop, and he's behind the counter of the Westboro branch. Immersed occupationally in world events every day, he has to be a CBC listener, I figure. "Mike, this CBC lockout, are you coping or not?"
He looks at me strangely. "I'm not a listener, I never listen. It's boring. It's all left-wing crap. Have you ever heard the CBC criticize a Liberal government in the last 15 years?"
The radio is playing back of Mike: Oldies 1310.
In the parking lot of Capone's Restaurant on Carling Ave. is the sleek Thunderbird of Tony Cuccaro, owner of the eatery. "Are you kidding me?" he scoffs. "How can I listen to the CBC? I only have six pre-sets on my radio."
Bland dress, shoes
Bonnie Fleming, senior citizen, is in Chapters on Rideau St. Her bland dress and shoes, and novel by Margaret Atwood tell me she's a CBC type. "Of course I miss it. It's all I ever listen to. I love Shelagh Rogers as though she's a daughter. She makes my day. I happen to think CBC radio is so important to Canadians that the government should legislate a settlement."
Linda Haughton, mother of two teenagers, shopping in the Canadian Tire store at Woodroffe and Fairlawn: "I listen to it (CBC) on the radio in the morning, but no, I don't miss it. I like that it has no annoying commercials, but I'm certainly not 'inconvenienced.' That's snobbish of them. It's not like they're a necessity. There's lots of other places to get news and information."
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Check this out!
LMAO! How can I miss you if you won't go away!
I quit listening to CBC Radio on 9/11 when it took them 40 minutes to disengage from a mindless interview with a local politician to take notice of New York City being under attack. I listen to the other classical station at work, which has a playlist of about 50 pieces from the same list I had in Freshman "Music Appreciation" class, but they do interrupt for news when it happens, not 40 minutes later.
I hear the CBC television is on strike too. Who knew?
Thanks for the ping TSR.
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One Billion dollars a year to keep "Bonnie Fleming" happy.
Perhaps we should close the CBC, and evenly divide the one billion between all our seniors, not just the lefties.
One of Mulrooney's biggest mistakes was not selling off the CBC.
With the present lockout due to the labour dispute, the CBC has said there will unfortunately be "disruptions to regular programming."
To keep Canadians tuned into the CBC, they have published their lineup of emergency programming:
7 a.m. -- Cartoons hosted by David Cronenberg and Atom Agoyan.
8 a.m. -- Reading the Paper, with Don Cherry. Go through the entire newspaper in the morning with Grapes. "Bank of Canada forecasts interest rate hikes, eh? Someone ought to hit them hard when their head's down."
9 a.m. -- Coffee Talk with the new Governor General. Her Excellency Michaelle Jean returns to her CBC roots to help out in this time of crisis. It's a call-in format, so phone in and discuss anything -- except separatism. First three callers every day get the Order of Canada.
10 a.m. to Noon -- Gardening with those guys in B.C. It's on all the time anyway, and because anything grows in B.C. unlike the rest of the country, the show is basically throwing a bunch of mystery seeds around and sitting in a lawn chair with a beer waiting to see what will pop up.
Noon -- Some science fiction show filmed in Toronto, but pretending to be New York, except you can see Sun newspaper boxes on the street corners. Plus the evil alien overlord is that Canadian guy from the Scottish "it's not oatmeal" commercials.
2 p.m. -- Naptime at the Canadian Senate. Join a different senator every day for a tour of their favourite places to nap in the Red Chamber.
3 p.m. -- Just For Laughs Gags. Lame practical jokes played on Montrealers that were mildly funny in the days of silent films. The $6-budget covers the rubber chicken, garden hose and rubber dog poop. If you liked Cirque de Soleil, then you have our deepest sympathies.
3:30 p.m. -- The voice-over commercials of Donald Sutherland. A half hour of every car commercial that Mr. Sutherland has ever lent his reassuring voice to.
4 p.m. -- Political Roundtable with Mr. Dress-Up and Chez Helene. The pressing issues of the day are discussed by the only two political commentators left in the CBC stable. Guest panelist: Polkaroo defends the deregulation of auto insurance.
5 p.m. -- Listening to the Radio with Leonard Cohen.
5:30 p.m. -- That commercial about the loon, followed by the making of that commercial about the loon.
6 p.m. -- Red Green Marathon. Red Green duct- tapes everyone to everything for two hours.
8 p.m. -- Table Hockey Tonight: Sheila Copps vs. Mitsou at the Flying Dutchman Motor Inn.
9 p.m. -- Front Page Challenge Blooper Reel. See the unaired version of Fred Davis finally telling Gordon Sinclair what he thinks of him.
9:30 p.m. -- A People's History of Canadian Candle Making: Part 7 -- New France.
10 p.m. -- Red Green again. Did we mention all the things you can do with duct tape?
10:30 p.m. -- Duct Tape: A People's History. Tonight Alexander Graham Bell accidentally duct tapes his ear to his new telephone.
11 p.m. -- The Best of Canadian Independent Films.
11:05 p.m. -- The Royal Canadian Air Farce: A salute to the same Scottish joke they have been doing since the Battle of Vimy Ridge.
11:30 p.m. -- Hum in the Shower with Tommy Hunter.
Midnight -- Watching Knowlton Sleep. A new reality show that films Canadian Knowlton Nash while he brushes his teeth and gets into bed.
With shows like these, how will we be able to tell when the strike is over?
The wildest thing is this is coming out of the NATION'S CAPITAL. If even Ottawa cannot be bought into CBC socialist rhetoric, who can?
Abolish the CBC, will you?
LOL! Damn! I lived in New Brunswick from 1976-1983. Are Tommy Hunter and Knowlton Nash still alive?
I know Pierre Berton is dead.
Probably not. LOL
That's why they're on CBC!
That strike resulted in the best football broadcast ever- the Eskimos-Argos game was shown with no commentators or graphics, just the visuals and sounds from the stadium. Almost as good as being there!
The only thing CBC is good for is Coronation Street and Doctor Who......
oh and don't forget the new Beachcombers.....not.
Ping please!
Hi.
I already did. See post #6.
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