I am stunned by the CBC announcement.  What a way to drive away viewers.  In Ottawa, CBC meteorologist Ian Black was on the air from home.  That lasted one day,  At the same time, CTV Ottawa has carried on with co-anchor Patricia Boal broadcasting from what I think is her backyard.
Shame on the CBC.  Kudos to CTV Ottawa.

RadioActive wrote:

I'm still hoping the CBC changes whatever passes for its collective mind on this. It's a dumb decision, but especially now when local events and updates are so vital. It would be like getting on a cruise ship during a coronavirus outbreak. You'd have to be crazy to do it, no matter how much money you're saving. 

I think radio in this town has made a better impression. But not everyone thinks this medium is well done. In a scathing article in Variety, a former Los Angeles Program Director rips into radio for some pretty dumb decisions, noting with so many on forced leave, this is its time to shine. Especially when it comes to being live and local. 

"Let me quiz every “Radio PD” — whose oversight likely extends to 30-plus stations: what was radio’s defining strength throughout history? Being free, you say? That’s not it, or Sirius/XM wouldn’t exist and certainly not be a profitable business.

"Try again. Being in every car? Nope, that’s not correct either, not in the long run with connected cars quickly cycling into the marketplace at ever-increasing speeds. Clock that answer with an egg timer.

If you didn’t say BEING LOCAL, SERVING YOUR LOCAL COMMUNITY, this is why you are doomed to fail, yet again."

Radio, Don’t Blow Your Chance to Matter Again

Amen to that!

fyshtalk wrote:

 The question is, if we can get by without local news provided by the publicly funded "Corp"  during the biggest story of our time , can we get by without  it ..for good... once this is over?!

There is no defending CBC's lack of local TV news right now. CBC radio is doing this across the country but TV should still have their local news broadcasts.  CBC is doing a good job on a national basis, as is CTV.  I would say that CBC News Network so far has been superior to CTV News Channel. The CTV main network news packages have been better overall than CBC The National, in my opinion. 

I do however like Adrienne Arsenault and Andrew Chang, who are proving to be a good team and I appreciate their calm and  reassuring delivery, even moments of humour.   And of course Ian Hanomansing is always cool under pressure, and delivers the facts straightforward.   That would be my only criticism of CTV so far, Lisa Laflamme and a few of the anchors on CTV News Channels occasionally get a little emotional on air and should try to stay away from that.  CNN, at times is great, but too often some anchors  have almost become unglued on air. They are still playing politics too much with this (as is FOX) and have got to get past the partisanship.  This doesn't serve anyone right now. CNN's Townhall programs have been really well done, thanks to the medical professionals featured on the shows.

 Some interesting ratings info from Bill Brioux's website.

https://brioux.tv/blog/2020/03/20/news-ratings-in-canada-take-big-leap-during-covid-19-coverage/

CTV has stepped up big time in this crisis.     Perceptions are of the CBC being top heavy, often out of touch and slow to react, and I agree.    This blunder is absolutely nuts.  Aside from that, stay tuned for next weeks episode of The Current, discussing COVID-19's effect on Italy 2 weeks ago with endless in depth interviews of people stuck in their apartments around the same time.     Not very useful, but generally how they roll.

I can confirm that CBC President Catherine Tait is doing two employee-wide hour-long virtual Town Halls tomorrow.

Perhaps the more erudite among us here could carefully script a question about this decision, and any hope of it being reversed any time soon. I am sure some little bird or other on the Big Yellow Board could slip it in the stream one way or another.

6079 Smith W wrote:

I can confirm that CBC President Catherine Tait is doing two employee-wide hour-long virtual Town Halls tomorrow.

They just announced to staff that supper-hour local news is coming back - by next week Toronto, Windsor, Edmonton, Calgary, and Saskatchewan should be back.
 

Last edited by 6079 Smith W (April 1, 2020 2:25 pm)