It would be a lot more listenable if people were not so obsessed with the POTUS and talking about every bloody thing he says and does. Sick and tired of hearing about him, and also hearing/seeing the partisan "PrOtEcT oNtArIo" propaganda every two minutes on every station.

As annoying and serious as it is, it's better than some of the usual topics they cover. It affects both countries and for the first time in a very long time, Canada is the lead story on newscasts around the world. As horrible as the idiot down south is, at least it doesn't make for dull radio. 

Shorty Wave wrote:

Who said radio’s dying, as it’s pretty darn lively this morning, and that’s why I still love it!

Uh have you been living under a rock? Stations being completely shut down, massive layoffs. Just read through this site and you'll learn a lot.

Surprising that the stock markets are doing so well today.  Currently the TSX is up by about 200 points and into record territory.  Renaming Lake Ontario would be as successful as the renaming of the Gulf of Mexico.  Got to hand it to Trump however, he is the ultimate troll.  But that isn't anything to be proud of...

RadioActive wrote:

As annoying and serious as it is, it's better than some of the usual topics they cover. It affects both countries and for the first time in a very long time, Canada is the lead story on newscasts around the world. As horrible as the idiot down south is, at least it doesn't make for dull radio. 

Not really sure why it's important for Canada to be the lead story around the world.  First time in a very long time??  We were the lead story about one month ago with the wildfires in Northern Ontario and parts of Western Canada. 

One of the many, many problems with broadcast journalism today is the obsession with what waterheads like Trump and DoFo say. I present the following advice freely for any journalists or news directors who may wander in:

    Stop reporting on what they say. It's all empty bullshit.
    Start reporting on what they do. That's where the story is.

paterson1 wrote:

RadioActive wrote:

C'mon P1. You know Canada rarely if ever makes the news down south. This is not a normal situation. With certain exceptions - of which this is one - Canada almost never makes the headlines in the U.S. They have enough issues on their own without worrying or caring about us. Sad to say, we're generally an after thought. 

That's not a knock on Canada, it's just a fact.

Cmon RA, I think you are a bit blind or have a selective memory, and not a fact at all.  I just gave you an example from last month when we were the lead.  And weren't we also when the Gordie Howe bridge opening was delayed? Canada was also front and centre over a year ago when all of this tariff and 51st state garbage started.  Doug Ford apparently was all over US news stations today. 
                                                                                                                                                                                    So what would be an acceptable amount of attention for you?  With most things Canadian you try to trivialize and make like we don't matter just because of a supposed lack of US recognition in your mind.  The number of times we are the lead story on US news really doesn't matter.  Seems for you it is a big deal, since you always crave American approval for some reason.  Or it's "not really official" until covered by American media?  Sort of sad and odd you would think like that my friend ..... 

Not at all. I know how you like to boost Canada, which is great. But beyond the few rare stories you cite (and most of them were never the lead and got a passing mention as a V/O clip, including the Gordie Howe Bridge debacle) Canada just does not matter to Americans. Maybe with the tariffs we will be more noticed for a while. But it's well known that the U.S. doesn't care about this country, unless it somehow affects them. 

That's not me craving U.S. attention. Frankly, I couldn't care less if they ever report on Canada. We have our own networks here for that. We have permanent correspondents in Washington. They have no one in Ottawa and only come here on rare occasions. It's a different country and it makes perfect sense U.S. news would take priority over anything that happens here - unless it somehow involves them, as the tariff story does. 

I know you love to argue with me. But this is a known and provable fact. Americans only care about Canada when it somehow affects Amercians. This story does. Most don't. Go over any old NBC Nightly Newscast or ABC World News Tonight before this most recent trade war broke out and see how often we're mentioned. I'm willing to bet you it's less than 1% of the time, if we even get mentioned at all. 

The truth remains we give them more coverage than they give us. It's just a fact of a bigger country and a bigger market and Americans being obsessed with themselves at the expense of everybody else. There's nothing controversial in that. To quote Bruce Hornsby, "That's just the way it is."

Just stop talking about T-Rump altogether. Period. Full stop. End of discussion.

paterson1 wrote:

Well, you have just confirmed many of my points, thanks.  And you seem to be bouncing between Canada not being the lead news story, and not being carried much at all by American news media. The few "rare" stories that I cited that were brief mentions, huh?  Some were on US news for days and on websites that generated thousands of comments.  And all of these were recent stories, so what exactly are you talking about?

And how long has it been since you've seen any stories on any U.S. newscasts about those fires, which are still burning, many out of control? It's only when the wind carries the smoke there that there's any coverage at all. Hasn't happened in a few weeks except for that one flurry of polluted air. Otherwise, the networks there don't care. 

paterson1 wrote:

I do agree that Canada is not top of mind for the vast majority of Americans.  There isn't really any reason why we would be.  Not sure that translates into not caring though.  Millions of Americans visit Canada regularly and millions have family here and vice versa. So there are lots of connections and millions that do care.  Any surveys I have seen since Trump was re-elected show that Americans don't support tariffs against Canada.

They come to visit here and then go home and don't think about us again unless they have a) have family here or b) plan to return someday. Ask them about the news from here and I guarantee you less than .05% will even know anything about our major stories on a daily basis. And why should they? I don't pay much attention to the big stories out of Kentucky or North Carolina unless there's a reason to. 

paterson1 wrote:

I actually think the US news media that I see generally covers Canada adequately.  Just notice that they don't always do enough research and get basic things wrong, or mispronounce names or places.  We will always cover American stories more than the other way around.  That shouldn't be surprising and will always be that way.  I am sure Spain or Portugal and all of Europe have more American news on their news networks than the US has about any of them.  I wouldn't take that as being not caring however. 

Well, I guess it depends on what you mean by "adequately." If Quebec holds an independence referendum, they'll definitely notice. If there's an explosion at the Pickering Plant, they'll rush here. But the day to day stuff that makes headlines nationally in this country? I almost never see that in the U.S. unless it specifically involves that nation. Which makes perfect sense.

paterson1 wrote:

And it goes without saying that the US has 1,000% more cancon in all forms than 30 or 40 years ago.  And the most popular cancon shows stateside tend to be set in Canada.

Of course there is. The Canadian government is forcing programmers here to produce CanCon with quotas attached. So naturally there's more of it and unlike the 60s and 70s, when there was a cheapness to our productions, much of it looks very good and can be favourably compared to product from the rest of the world.

Also, there are a ton more channels, including streaming, hungry to fill programming hours or get content, so it goes without saying there would be more exposure. They have to fill all that time with something.

paterson1 wrote:

I think we generally don't know nearly as much about the US as we think.  Sure we know their culture and entertainment to a certain extent because we watch and listen to the content.  But the average Canadian knows little about the workings of the US government, American laws or history.  Granted many Canadians know even less about our government, laws and history.  Sadly for both the knowledge isn't that great in many cases, but at least they still have opinions even if they are not based on facts. Voter turnout for federal elections is higher in Canada than the US so there must be some interest.

 
I never said there wasn't interest in Canadian politics, only that there isn't much interest in the U.S. about what happens here. Again, unless it somehow affects them. Even with the past few days, I'm willing to wager a substantial sum that if you asked the average American who the Prime Minister of Canada is, they would have no idea. And worse, they may not even care. 

As for U.S. politics, I watch the American newscasts every night, and I took all that stuff about the Three Branches of Government in high school, so I am somewhat familiar with how their system works. Especially the stuff about impeachment, which I wish they would look into now. 

paterson1 wrote:

I do promote Canadian media when warranted.  I sometimes hold back just to see if anyone else picks up on something.  When this doesn't happen I will post. And often positive stories are overlooked, so I post about them.  Too much dwelling on negative and sometimes minor stories.  Wrong graphics on CTV Toronto?  Who cares..  When I first started to read SOWNY before joining, it always struck me the lack of anything on regional media from outside the GTA.  It is better now and we seem to have more posts on other markets in Southern Ontario outside of Toronto.  

I cannot comment on out town stations, since I don't live there. But I'm grateful some SOWNY members do and feel free to comment on everything from Ottawa media to Hamilton, Kitchener, London, Windsor and stations to the north. We even have a few from out west in Alberta and Vancouver who make great contributions. (Not to forget some of our friends in Buffalo!) They are always welcome to post here, even if it's not directly about Toronto media. 

And yes, I care about the wrong graphics on CTV. I started my television career doing news graphics and I took pride in rarely getting it wrong, despite a large margin for error. I have no idea why it happens so often there, but it does and it's terribly unprofessional.

RadioActive wrote:

By the way, the Canada-U.S. Trade War story was in the third pack of NBC Nightly News Tuesday, around the 6:50 PM mark  - and they did it as a 30 sec. voice over. Not even a reporter story. That speaks volumes about how important we are to them.

Maybe that's why NBC never wins the ratings race at 6:30.  On Monday however at 6:30 NBC lead with the out of control Reno wildfires, the second story for only about 15 seconds was Trump's win with the ballot ruling and then the economic d-day on Iran and tariffs for Canada which they tied into together.  Each got about 55 seconds.
 
On ABC Reno fire lead, mail in ballots second with a real report unlike NBC, third tariff battle with Canada and clips of Doug Ford ranting 1:30 in total time. All three opening reports on ABC much more involved and longer than NBC.

CBS had Reno fire first and mail in ballots, football coach found with a prostitute and various other stories.  Doug Ford and the tariffs came in at 6:40:30 into the newscast and lasted 1:20.

All three networks included Ford and the tariffs in the lengthy openings where they preview almost everything they will cover that evening.  Overall ABC had the most complete and best news package IMO. 

So I guess on a busy Monday we seemed to be higher up.  CNN was all over the story from mid morning Monday into the Tuesday morning with panelists and reports.  And this evening Gavin Newsom Gov. of California was on both CTV News Channel and CBC NN with lengthy interviews regarding this needless mess. He was not kind to you know who and seems to think more in the Republican party are turning on the Prez than most think. 

 
 

There's an entire alt media universe now that did not exist before and sometimes the American alt outlets do dig deeper into Canada, I think I have seen several stories about Canada on Democracy Now over the last while.  Breaking Points did a 12 minute section on the trade war today.  I think the Young Turks also had a long segment on it. I did a whole thread on the neutered and sometimes censored mainstream media. back in March.

This other Canadian issue was covered by Democracy Now today, Not sure how many, if any, mainstream media outlets reported on it The Fox news baby boomer bubble is just a small and more insidious sub bubble inside the controlled mainstream media bubble, A former local media personality and leader of a major  political party is interviewed:



 

Last edited by Fitz (August 25, 2026 11:56 pm)

Trump is treating Canada like a neighbour who continually lets their dog shit on your lawn and doesn't clean it up. It's not the dog's fault, it's the master controlling it. 

RadioActive wrote:

By the way, how did a thread called "How I Love Radio!" turn into a long screed on television?

 
No kidding! I was impressed with the amount of reaction this thread received. Yesterday really was a very active day for local radio and I enjoyed it, and I bet those who worked in radio had a fulfilling, busy shift!

Worth sharing is this short piece by former NBC Nightly News anchor Tom Brokaw, describing Canada to Americans on the occasion of the Vancouver 2010 winter games.


 

I don't think it's a American or Canadian issue per se. More human nature. As I posted above in the Avi Lewis post. Democracy Now has covered Canada a fair bit as have other media outlets that are not necessarily part of the mainstream media. The talk radio bubble can be insular as can many individuals regardless of country of origin.

Now with new media there has been a somewhat democratization of information. When Mr Lewis speaks of what he is finding in his door to door canvassing, is he lying. I don't think so as I believe people's eyes are being opened, despite the media and political elites efforts to ignore or misrepresent reality.American, Canadian or whoever.

 

Last edited by Fitz (August 27, 2026 9:01 am)