Just look at this list (kudos to Peter McGillvray for compiling this list on Facebook):
1. The CBC Young Composers Competition has not been held since March 9, 2003. It, as well as the CBC Young Performers Competition, have been suspended for the past four years. The Canada Council provided the funding for the $10,000.00 grand prize
.2. CBC erased the classical music budget for CBC Records in February 2008, precisely on the eve of their first Grammy win by Canadian violinist James Ehnes and the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra under Bramwell Tovey on the CBC Records label. Many artists, such as Measha Brueggergosman, launched their careers on a CBC Records label recording.
3. The commissioning budget previously devoted to commissioning new works from composers is now spread out to cover jazz, pop musicians, and some unspecified amount of contemporary music.
4. CBC cancelled Two New Hours, a multiple-award winning program that was aired for two hours a week in the incredibly prime time slot of Sundays 10pm to midnight. This program was dedicated to the music of living Canadian composers. It was cancelled in March 2007 in its 29th year.
5. CBC cancelled The Arts Report. The late Val Ross, an arts columnist for The Globe and Mail, lamented the loss of this particular radio segment, saying that it kept her in touch with important cultural developments across the country.
6. CBC cancelled Music For A While, which aired classical music daily from 6pm to 8pm. It has been replaced by Tonic, a jazz program which also features hip-hop, soul and world music.
7. CBC cancelled In Performance the flagship Classical concerts program. It was replaced by Canada Live, which has an uneven and unpredictable offering of funk and R and B bands, jazz, Middle eastern fusion music, throatsinging...
8. The proposed cuts for the Fall of 2008 represents further reductions in classical music content, eliminating classical music 6am to 10am and 3pm to 6pm.
9. The new hosts are not musicologists and have little depth of knowledge to share with radio listeners. Howard Dyck, for example, who is no longer hosting Saturday Afternoon at the Opera, is an Order of Canada recipient, a conductor and the recipient of numerous honourary degrees for his contribution to music in Canada. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Howard_Dyck Larry Lake, former host of Two New Hours, is a Toronto composer, performer and broadcaster. He is Artistic Director of the Canadian Electronic Ensemble, the oldest active live electronic music group in the world, now in its 35th season. Other hosts whose, such as Tom Allen, Eric Friesen, Rick Phillips are also giants in the field of music broadcasting.
10. The axing of the CBC Radio Orchestra: North America's 70 year old last remaining radio orchestra and platform for countless premieres of new Canadian compositions
11. 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 Saturday Afternoon at the Opera after many years of great service.
12. The CBC axing the Radio Orchestra one day citing lack of resources, and the next day buying hugely expensive full-page ad in the Globe and Mail to convince us how wonderful everything is going to be in their Brave New World
March 30, 2008
MORE REASONS TO FIGHT CBC's CHANGES
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5 comments:
While it does seem CBC has axed TOO many classical programs, you can't always fight changes and keep the old programs - there has to be movement into the present, and changes will always happen. You kind of have to think about it from their standpoint - why would they axe the programs? Ok, perhaps lack of resources isn't their real problem, but maybe they just think they aren't getting enough return - as in, how many people listen to classical music now? Are they getting enough return for their investment? Perhaps they think jazz or R&B have more appeal.
The better question m'dear is who listens to CBC radio? The youth listen to the privatized stations...CBC will never attract those audiences unless it privatizes, so it is a lost cause...not only that, if the Conservatives win the next election via Majority, and they cut more arts spending, then we are in trouble...did you know that CBC had to cancel to new original shows this summer, because the Maple Leafs didn't make the playoffs, and they couldn't use the revenue...
In Quebec, everyone listens to CBC (Radio-Canada)! Though, probably not the English version as much.
It is kind of annoying that CBC is losing all its funding, though, partly because of the classical shows being canceled, and also because jPod is being canceled, but quite frankly, I don't think that the majority of the citizens of Canada really care enough about classical music on CBC to pay more taxes for it. Most of us (myself included) probably don't listen to classical music enough to get bored of Classicalk 96.3, anyway. Actually, I bet more people know about the hidden Brawl music (see Aaron's post) than the dearth of classical music and classical music funding by CBC.
The youth don't necessarily listen to CBC because it's not privatized; the CBC just doesn't target the youth audience.
Although, CBC 3 is quite good. Too bad it's only available online.
josh, jPod was cancelled because of the Leafs!
I do not lie.
It was stated explicitly in a newspaper article.
The problem lies in that people's jobs and art is also at stake here...the CBC orchestra players, and those who rely on classical productions from CBC.
James Ehnes, Measha Breuggergosman and Ben Heppner would not have launched their careers without CBC records and they are respectively in the top 5 of their musical fields in the entire world right now....CBC records even won a grammy for James Ehnes' CD this year \....but they still want to reduce their classical programming?
i also think its really wierd when CBC sees that since it started reducing classical content, ratings have gone DOWN!!! Where are the hip hop lovers now?
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