Peter the K wrote:

Ok. So?
She's been doing the show for over 30 years on CHIN. I thought CHIN basically was entirely brokered anyway.
So basically, she's paying for the time, she can do what she wants.

Somewhere @1236 is laughing but here I go .

With all due respect, that's not true.  There are _many_ who believe that is the case, and my first few months at AM640 was all about making lifetime enemies with a few bartered time hosts who figured whatever funds they could generate to cover the cost of their broadcast should be great.  This tends to be a fight that comes from all sides, from the sales department who can't believe you're telling a client to piss up a rope, to the client and their 'supporters' who are usually quite the vocal minority.  I believe many of these hosts truly believe in the holistic / alternative offerings they put forward on their shows.  Just as strongly as I believe they're glorified horticulturalists selling very dangerous pith.

https://web.archive.org/web/20010427003840/http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2000-11-02/news.html

Nothing makes my blood boil faster than these quacks who quickly find out which shows they can buy airtime on to push their vitamins and oil of oregano shit, selling hope to people who will quickly part with their money (and usually a lot of it) in order to fix what they believe ails them.  

I've never listened to Zelda's show, and have no comments on the quality of her program or her guests, but the second people mention 'medical practitioners' who pay to play, my spidey senses slam into overdrive.    

Generally there are measures in place, mainly CBSC to address these issues, where they fall short though is when the programming is in a language other than English, and especially when discussions occur between polar opposed groups of beliefs.  I feel confident to talk about that part, since 2 (two!) east Indian producers who I used to act as technical producer on for their Weekend morning shows on City were shot dead.  Though no cause was ever officially announced, it was pretty well understood that the 'my god(s) are better than your god(s)' broadcasts were at the heart of it.   One of the strangest calls you'll ever get is 'don't come in to work today, your client was shot dead last night'.  

https://www.torontopolice.on.ca/homicide/case/39/1991

http://www.drps.ca/internet_explorer/whatsnew/missingperson.asp?ID=136

Since the show started a zillion years ago by her father, Sam Yuchtman, and through Zelda's stewardship of it, it's been dragged through the wringer more than once, accused of being 'anti-Arab',   I don't know if she still carries daily newscasts from Arutz Sheva, but they went a long way in igniting issues.   Having said that, I also know of a few Islamic shows which could easily be considered 'anti-Jewish' based on their content.  I wish I could say it all evens out, but it doesn't, and unfortunately never will. 

Having grown up in Scotland in the late 60's and early 70's, where the Irish 'troubles' were the daily news lead, then coming to Canada and being amazed how little it was ever mentioned, it's not difficult to understand why people are so passionately affected by issues in their homeland, eager to ensure that others in their new world know what's taking place, and subsequently accused of 'taking sides' in that reporting.

BTW,  I admire the hell out of her stamina and drive.  Doing an hour a day, and 2 on a weekend is a full time job in itself if done properly, and her list of sponsors seems as respectable as any other brokered show, and believe me, a hell of a lot more respectable than others.  http://www.zeldayoung.com/category/sponsors/

I was approached by a sales person once who wanted to approach Zelda and see if she'd be interested in moving stations.  I shot it down fast, for a few reasons; least of which was not wanting to move an established program to a frequency that was far from stable.  I also knew I wasn't smart, mature, educated, or whatever the correct words are to navigate the political discourse that the show would inevitably bring to the frequency.  Plus I don't believe she would have moved anyway.  It would have been a silly step for all involved. 

When I suggested to Gary Bell he do a weekend show for us, to talk about all the conspiracy theories rolling around in his head, my only caveat to him was 'don't say anything stupid and don't get us sued'   During my time there, he may have done the first, but he didn't do the second, and it was pretty smooth sailing... at least till last year.    Admittedly, there were a few cease and desist orders from the Habsburg dynasty lawyers, but they never left contact information.

It's no secret I host the Ask the Expert shows on NT1010 as well as others, and I've never done a show with a client I didn't believe in.  There have been a couple that I've asked the sales department to find others at the station to represent because I personally wasn't comfortable with the pitch or the product.  Not that it was wrong, just that it felt wrong to me.  And the station, nor sales has ever had an issue with that.  

Anyway, yak away, but please don't let this denigrate into a discussion about the pros and cons of MEMRi, Al-Jazeera, CHIN, The national enquirer or whatever.  



 

Last edited by ig (February 20, 2018 4:31 pm)

My problem with all of these "Ask the Experts" type of program and yes, infomercials, is the amount of fraud being perpetrated during the broadcasts.
My only experience with this type of "programming" was at CFRA and CKNW. 
Both stations continued to run infomercials from the US which had already been banned in the states and the perpetrators were heavily fined and banned from the airwaves.
And the "Ask the Experts" programs were heavily stocked with calls from employees and friends of the sponsor, posing as regular listeners asking questions or praising the product or service.  CFRA continued to run commercials and an infomercial for one of those stupid gas saver add on thingies for your car that both the EPA and the Canada Research Council had declared worthless.   Just a couple of examples and I'm sure these fraudulent practices still continue.

do these stations... NT1010 and others running obviously brokered commercial segments or infomercials, carry a regular liner notifying listeners that "these opinions are solely those of the participants", or, more to the point, "this segment is paid time on behalf of xxx"?

Don't know about others, but @NT1010 they now have liners that run regularly during the show that make it absolutely clear that this is paid programming.  Not just a quick mention in the middle of a financial disclaimer, but a liner on it's own clarifying it..

splunge wrote:

do these stations... NT1010 and others running obviously brokered commercial segments or infomercials, carry a regular liner notifying listeners that "these opinions are solely those of the participants", or, more to the point, "this segment is paid time on behalf of xxx"?

thanks for the info IG.
I suppose one could say... "well at least there is a warm body in the building" in the event real news happens.

Hansa wrote:

Does anyone listen to the Zelda Young Show which is on CHIN-FM at 9 am? It seems to be a mixture of brokered segments, including some belonging to "medical practitioners" of questionable authority and far right political views.  

Funny this would come up. I’ve been thinking about posting something about this show for a very, very long time. But I thought no one besides me ever listened to it and because she does almost the whole thing on her own, it wouldn’t entirely be fair to comment on it.
 
But since you asked, and with apologies for the length, here comes years of thinking about Ms. Young’s show.
 
First of all, the fact she’s been able to keep it running all these decades is a testimony to her stamina, so I’ll give her that. And she gets her news from something called “Israel National News,” which is still associated with Arutz Sheva. So that hasn’t changed. And she's so pro-Trump she audibly bristles at anyone who disagrees with him.  
 
Some of her frequent guests, like the Houseman brothers, Pulitzer Prize winner Edwin Black and former CIA operative Clare Lopez are all very well informed on Middle East issues and they’re the primary reason I tune in. The show is decidedly pro-Israel but that’s a given for something that was once known as The Jewish Hour.   
 
Still, I can’t help but note how terribly produced this show often is and I sometimes listen to it just to see how far off the rails it can go. And it regularly does.
 
Some examples:
 
-Her guests are frequent no-shows. It happens so many times that she has to vamp while her operators are desperately trying to get hold of them. And she tells her audience the guest “hasn’t called in yet.” Look, I’m all for saving on long distance charges, but how cheap can you be? You phone them well ahead of time and get the guy or gal on hold so that doesn’t happen several times a week. Other times, the guest just forgets and is doing something else. It takes place so often, it’s laughable.
 
-She constantly gets names, countries, positions and worse yet, facts wrong. The breadth of the host’s ignorance – all the while insisting on how smart she is and how important her show is  – is astounding. A few weeks ago, she noted that the parents of Otto Warmbeir – the kid who came back from North Korea in a coma and died soon after – were at Trump’s State of the Union address. But she not only got his name wrong, none of it was even close. She said something like “William Cornhouser” or a similar fictional moniker on air when she referenced his name.
 
During the debate about pulling down Confederate statues in the U.S., she interjected into a guest expert by telling him that George Washington was also in that group. What???  Clueless.
 
-She frequently reads headlines right out of the newspaper. You can always tell when she’s doing this, because she starts the sentence with “Well, apparently,” then reads the non-sentence verbatim on air. How bad does it get? One time, I actually heard her read this on air: “The Israeli General, pictured, denies the charges.” Yes, she said the word “pictured” as she read the copy off a website. And it appeared she had no idea of what she did. Incredible.
 
-She seems unable or unwilling to turn off her mic. She constantly has it on and you can hear her clearing her throat, rattling her papers and other noise, even though they’re going into a pre-recorded spot that means her mic has no reason to be on. Strange.
 
-Even her intro is screwed up, with the late Harvey Atkin intoning, “Heeeere’s Zelda!” only to have them launch into an El Al spot every single morning (except Sunday) that most certainly ISN’T Zelda.
 
-There are also constant technical snafus. On Sunday, she started the show complaining on air that her headphones weren’t working. Instead of going to music or a spot, she delayed the program live, wasting two minutes of valuable air time insisting it be fixed.
 
-This one’s incredible. I once heard her start the program over her cell phone. Why? She apparently forgot her show prep at home and had to go back to get it. By the time she got on the road, traffic was terrible and she was late for her show. Still, she gamely intro’d her guest and did a back and forth until she boldly announced she was pulling into the station’s parking lot and was on her way up to the studio in the elevator.
 
But her cell wouldn’t work there, so she asked the guest – who was plugging an event and was not a broadcaster – to just keep talking until she got there. Well, you can guess what happened next. The guy ran out of things to say and began asking for her on air. “Zelda? Zelda? Are you there?” Dead silence. So he kept rambling on about nothing until she finally arrived. I have to admit I’ve never heard anything quite like it.
 
-There’s a rabbi who’s on five times a week. A more arrogant man you’ve never heard. I met him just once. He was counseling a man who had just lost his father less than a week before. When the man mentioned he would drive to synagogue that Saturday to honour him, this so-called “learned man” responded, “Of course you know that’s a sin!” Nice way to comfort a grieving son. I’ve hated him ever since then and that same know-it-all attitude surfaces every day on air.
 
-Her experts are fine. But her paid sponsors, none of whom are I.D.'d as such, are another story. She has a paid naturopathic “doctor” on several times a week who puts forth stuff that in my mind equates to quackery. Apparently you can cure anything with the right herbs and vitamins. Good to know.
 
-This sponsor’s husband is also on the show and has been for decades. (He goes back so far, his intro is voiced by Carl Redhead, a former CHIN exec/announcer who’s been dead since 2002.) He’s a financial advisor. Is he any good? I have no idea but I would never give him a dime of my money after something he pulled many years ago.
 
His segment came on several minutes late that day and he was absolutely fuming. As Zelda tried to calm him down, he launched into a tirade about her producer, insisting some people should “not have their job,” he hated incompetence and he wanted that person fired. She tried to change the subject but he wouldn’t let it go, railing on and on – all on air – about how this producer should be terminated immediately.
 
As someone who’s both hosted and produced talk shows over the years, one of the Golden Rules is that you don’t publicly shame or blame your behind-the-scenes personnel, who after all, are the ones whose job it is to make you sound good. This was decades ago, but I’ve never forgiven this idiot for that outrageous temper tantrum.  
 
And that’s just a small list! Sorry it was so lengthy, but I’ve been thinking about this particular show for a very long time. I just can’t believe I’m not the only one who listens to it. Although sometimes I wonder why I bother at all.  
  

No, but the rabbi is not a businessman and he should know better. (You might say he's more concerned with Jewry than jewelry.)

By the way, the guy you're talking about was also on the air this month with a spot claiming a "survey" showed his store was voted the favourite jewelry outlet in all of Toronto. 

Oh really? By who? What survey? What were the numbers? Who took the survey and what questions were asked to which people?

And oh yeah, whatever happened to truth in advertising? 

Wow, I never thought one-hour of radio on a brokered station would generate such a reaction.  I had no idea.

Then again, maybe I should have.  In the 80s I was doing some work with Angelo Cremisio at CIAO and I remember him making a quip about having to keep a couple of shows far apart from each other on the schedule otherwise the hosts would probably kill each other.  He may not have been exaggerating.
  

RadioActive wrote:

One more thing - if anyone from this show ever reads this, can you please raise the damn levels on your phone interviews? It drives me crazy when you can't hear the guest, then Zelda comes on or you change the station and you almost blow your eardrums out because you've had to turn the volume up so loud.

Is anyone monitoring the VU's or the PPMs or whatever they're using over there?  

SERIOUSLY? You listen to this crap? I'd expect this kind of trolling comment from Geo or that sandwich that I blocked a long time ago, but not you.