p2pnet - rss feed: Save CBC Orchestra Facebook group
p2pnet news | Music:- Canadian music lovers have started a Facebook group to protest the projected closure of “the last radio orchestra in North America”.
CBC executives flew out to Vancouver, it base, to deliver the news that the CBC Orchestra is to be disbanded by Christmas this year, says the Globe and Mail.
And it’s all down to money.
“Members of the soon-to-be-dismantled CBC Radio Orchestra emerged disgusted from a closed-door meeting with CBC executives at a Vancouver hotel, ” says the story.
“It is a travesty that this decision has been made,” it has violist Andrew Brown stating.”It’s a travesty that the government continues to cut the funding to the CBC. But it is also a travesty that bureaucrats that occupy the top echelons of radio don’t have the guts to stand up for this orchestra.”
It’s, “Just bafflegab,” said Brian G’froerer, principal horn with the orchestra for 30 years, when he was asked how CBC executives Jennifer McGuire and Mark Steinmetz had responded to the musicians’ concerns inside the meeting.
“The decision to disband the 70-year-old CBC Vancouver Radio Orchestra is only the most recent attack by CBC management on classical music in Canada,” says Robert Murch in a letter to the Toronto Star, going on:
“The reformatting of Radio 2 away from classical programming is the primary example of this nasty campaign. For lovers of classical music who live outside of major centres like Toronto or Vancouver, Radio 2 is the only option on the radio dial.
“Web and satellite radio will take over for many of us, but Canadian performers will suffer, as most alternative sources are broadcast from other countries. The switch to a more diverse (and scattered) schedule that attempts to appeal to a wider audience is much more likely to result in a Radio 2 that appeals to no one.
“Management’s statement that it intends to redistribute the Radio Orchestra budget to other orchestras and composers around the country smells distinctly like a shell-game tactic. The old orchestra budget is likely to be reduced incrementally every year from now on, and since only penny packets of funding will be finding their way out to other recipients, the further cutbacks will be almost invisible.
“That the CBC says it will continue to ‘commission original pieces, creating more opportunities for working musicians,’ seems a sadly comical statement made by a board that just fired an entire orchestra.”
The CBC National Radio Orchestra, North America’s only broadcasting orchestra, says the Facebook group Save the CBC Radio Orchestra, going on:
“After the liquidation of CBC Radio 2s classical programming, now the CBC decided to further contribute to the demise of classical music in Canada by destroying the last radio orchestra on the continent, whose mandate is commissioning and programming works by Canadian composers.
“Please, join this facebook group as a sign of support to the orchestra, its mandate and musicians.”
Says another, Facebook group Save Classical Music at the CBC, in an impassioned post >>>
It was an extremely sad week for fans of this group as CBC execs announced, not only to continue gutting Radio Two’s content but now also to destroy the last Radio Orchestra left in North America - the CBC Radio Orchestra, based in Vancouver, and founded in 1938. An absolutely shocking if not enraging development for the members of this group as well as for classical and new music fans across this country.
Now more than ever is the time to pick up the fight against these bone-headed and scurrilous changes taking place at CBC. INVITE EVERY ONE OF YOUR FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES INTO THIS GROUP. Sing in a Choir? Play in an Orchestra? Toot your Kazoo in a Klezmer Band? Bring this issue up at your next rehearsal and get people tuned in. There’s plenty of discussion threads to keep you updated on the situation; give you ideas for things YOU can do; addresses of people you can write to, fax, or call; and plenty of rhetorical ammunition, quotes, and debate points to inspire your arguments and letters.
We CAN make a difference. We CAN save Radio Two. The “new Coke” sucks and we want the Classic one back!
We are the Facebook generation. The demographic group that these execs think they are playing to with all their changes. They MUST listen to us. In just about three weeks, over 8300 people have joined this group denouncing their actions. We’re officially a movement!
To catch people up on the news: CBC is gutting their weekday schedule, relegating Classical programming to a ghetto slot between 10am and 3pm when most people are at work. Gone are Music & Company - Tom Allen’s morning show, Here’s to You - Catherine Belyea’s (Formerly Shelley Solmes’) all-request show, Studio Sparks - due to the venerable Eric Friesen’s “retirement”, and Disc Drive - Jurgen Gothe’s popular drive-home show after almost 30 years. These changes come on the heels of last years round of cuts to vital programs such as Danielle Charbonneau’s much-loved Music for Awhile; Larry Lake’s new composer showcase Two New Hours; Symphony Hall - Canada’s live orchestra recording showcase; The Singer and the Song - Catherine Belyea’s excellent Classical vocal program; Northern Lights - the overnight Classical program beloved by Night Owls everywhere; The reformatting of In Performance- a primarily classical live performance show into the much-reviled Canada Live - a uniformly non-classical and completely unfocused hodge-podge of World music, soft pop, and sort-of Jazz; and the controversial replacement of veteran Howard Dyck from Sat Aft at the Opera after many years of great service.
They say that all of these changes are necessary so that Radio Two can fulfill its so-called mandate of reflecting all of the music in Canada. What they are really trying to do is be all things to all people, alienating their most devoted and dedicated fan base, wreaking havoc on the Canadian Classical music scene, and attracting almost no one in their place. They are wrong.
They say they will spend just as much on classical recordings and broadcasts as before. The next day the axe the CBC Radio Orchestra and reduce the operations of CBC Records to a standstill. They’re wrong.
They think we’ll be mollified listening to “popular and accessible” classics instead of challenging performances, and exciting new music. They’re wrong.
They think that since nobody but retired old geezers listens to Classical music, that they can reduced the amount of weekday Classics programming from 12 hrs to 5hrs between 10am and 3pm so that nobody who works for a living can tune in. They’re wrong.
They say they’ve consulted with listeners and undertaken demographic studies that show them that what they are doing is what people want. They’re wrong. And we’re the proof.
Let’s keep active in opposing these changes. The CBC execs keep trying to tell us that our efforts are in vain - perhaps because they’re worried they are about to have a full-scale backlash on their hands. Perhaps they’re right. Let’s give them one! We’re the people they are most afraid of. We’re the people they are trying to cater to since they already know a priori that the old folks will against them. They thought we, the younger generation would support them. They were wrong.
Write emails, send faxes and letters, leave angry voice mails to CBC execs and decision makers. Let’s use our own contacts in the media to push this story into the mainstream! There’s been productive talk in the discussion section about creative ways to protest the cuts including demonstrations at CBC Radio facilities, and even the possibility of a full-page ad in the national newspapers paid for by us, the listeners not some lobby group. They think we don’t have the knowledge, the organization or the compunction to get our message out. They’re wrong.
Check back here for more news and action initiatives. Since we’re over the 1200 limit, Facebook doesn’t let us message all members so we’re relying on people to keep themselves informed. Why not start a Facebook group yourself for the city YOU live in? Let’s get a network of groups all motivated to act under one common cause in their own communities as well. Let’s make this not just a national story but a local one as well.
And don’t forget to join our sister group that has just been started to Save the CBC Radio Orchestra.
Stay tuned.
Globe and Mail - CBC to dismantle 70-year-old radio orchestra, March 28, 2008
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April 1st, 2008 at 9:51 am
Societies dominated only by greeds and bureaucraties are finally destroyed because it accumulate too many parasites who are not productive but just accumulating money and power. We have seen this before.
For the sake of humanity, freedom and progress, for the sake of this planet and the others species leaving with us on it, corporations will be destroy.
Mark my world.
April 1st, 2008 at 12:33 pm
Sign the petition at SaveCBCOrchestra.com. Forward the site to your friends. Post a comment, a rant, view contacts you can write.
www.SaveCBCOrchestra.com
April 1st, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I am outraged about this latest anti-classical music act by CBC. CBC Radio 2 was one of things I appreciated most as a new immigrant to this country some 30 years ago. The past few years have seen a gradual erosion of the quality of the programming, with some of the (in my opinion) best classical music programmes being removed, most notably Music for awhile, and In Performance. Both of these were a joy to listen to. Also, Eric Frieson’s daytime programme has now become a mish-mush instead of the great programme it used to be. To disband the CBC radio orchestra is an act of folly. It is a tragedy. It should be prevented at all costs.
April 1st, 2008 at 11:50 pm
I am outraged about this latest anti-classical music act by CBC. CBC Radio 2 was one of things I appreciated most as a new immigrant to this country some 30 years ago. The past few years have seen a gradual erosion of the quality of the programming, with some of the (in my opinion) best classical music programmes being removed, most notably Music for awhile, and In Performance. Both of these were a joy to listen to. Also, Eric Frieson’s daytime programme has now become a mish-mush instead of the great programme it used to be. To disband the CBC radio orchestra is an act of folly. It is a tragedy. It should be prevented at all costs.