p2pnet news | Radio:- CBC Radio’s classic mistake results in cross-Canada protests decrying CBC radio changes which most definitely aren’t music to everyone’s ears.

That’s the sum of three different online headlines.

To the disgust of hundreds of thousands of Canadians, the CBC has decided classical music isn’t where it’s at.

“You’ve got to hand it to the folks at CBC Radio 2,” says Brent Ledger in the Toronto Star under classic mistake, then >>>

Not content with running a historic, irreplaceable service unlike any other in Canada, they decided to give us something really useful. Like another easy listening station.

Early last month, CBC Radio 2 announced it was going to ditch much of the stuff that made it distinctive (classical music) and play a lot more pop, including such underplayed artists as Diana Krall and Joni Mitchell.

Then it immediately went on the defensive (in a full-page newspaper ad) and said it would still be playing a lot of classical music, really it would, it’s just that it would be playing it when no one was listening, on Sunday and weekday afternoons.

A few days later, CBC bigwig Richard Stursberg went even farther and said none of the new music would be “pap . . . schlock . . . (or) dumbed down.”

Problem is, the rot has already set in.

Under aren’t music, “Last week, in an effort to gauge the reaction of the local music community to the proposed changes to CBC Radio Two, I picked the brain of Guelph singer/songwriter Stephen Fearing,” writes Declan Kelly in the GHuelkph Mercury, going on >>>

The planned overhaul will see our national broadcaster use its second spot on the FM dial for a lot less classical music in favour of other genres, a move Fearing, as a non-classical artist, strongly supports. He even went so far as to lend his name and mug to an ad in the Globe and Mail explaining the new format, which is set to be rolled out in September.

What I didn’t expect, however, was that as a fan of all types of music, Fearing seemed genuinely hurt at the loss of an outlet for a genre of music so far removed from his own.

In a similar way, cellist Ben Bolt-Martin didn’t give me the don’t-touch-a-single-note-of-classical programming rant one might expect from someone whose heartstrings — and purse strings for that matter — are so closely tied to the genre. Instead, the Stratford Shakespeare Festival musical ensemble member took a wider view of the situation, and sees September’s Radio Two redo as only the latest component of more wholesale changes currently afoot at the CBC.

And on its own site, “Dedicated CBC Radio 2 listeners and other classical music fans assembled outside CBC locations across Canada on Friday to protest recently announced programming changes and the public broadcaster’s decision to disband its radio orchestra,” posts the perpetrator in CBC Radio changes , continuing >>>

One-hour protests were staged outside a host of CBC branches, including in St. John’s, Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton, Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Regina.

Across the country, the demonstrations varied in number from small gatherings of about 20 to an estimated 300 in Vancouver.

“It will be one more step towards a homogenized CBC whose musical purpose is undemanding background noise,” composer James Rolfe, president of the Canadian League of Composers, told protesters in Toronto.

Lydia Adams, artistic director of the Toronto-based Elmer Iseler Singers and the Amadeus Choir, urged the public broadcaster to “take a step back” and reconsider the decisions.

“We expect the CBC leadership to reflect the Canadian voice, our Canadian voice,” she said to loud cheers from the Toronto crowd, huddled under umbrellas in the rain.

“The changes, to take effect this fall, include the cancellation of some classical programs and the shifting of others to what disgruntled music fans say are inconvenient, off-peak hours when most people are either working or at school,” says Dose.ca, adding:

“Classical music will still be heard on the network but there will be less of it. Instead, there will be more pop, jazz and world music, which protesters say is available on commercial radio stations.”

Facebook group Save Classical Music at the CBC has more than 13,500 members so far.

• CBC chief: ht.lacroix@cbc.ca
• Head of English Radio: jennifer.mcguire@cbc.ca;
• Head of English CBC: richard.stursberg@cbc.ca;
• Head of Music Programming: mark.steinmetz@cbc.ca

Stay tuned.

Slashdot it!

isn’t where it’s at - Save CBC Orchestra Facebook group, April 1, 2008
classic mistake - CBC Radio’s classic mistake, April 12, 2008
aren’t music - CBC changes not music to everyone’s ears, April 12, 2008
CBC Radio changes - Cross-Canada protests decry CBC Radio changes, orchestra’s end, April 11, 2008

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This entry was posted on Saturday, April 12th, 2008 at 10:50 am and is filed under Radio, Music. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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