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April 18, 2021 10:49 am  #1


On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

It's odd how sometimes initially you like somebody on air and their style, but then months later, the very same personalities start to annoy and grate the wrong way.

Three that I have.  Rosie Barton, who at first I thought was really good when she was on CBC News Network in the afternoon.  And now, I have trouble watching her, especially on Rosie Barton Live and on Thursday evening with At Issue.  She comes across as glib, laughs too much, or suddenly gets overly serious.  CBC sort of had her as the main anchor of CBC's election coverage for the last federal election and she was the weak link in their otherwise good production.

Another is Evan Solomon who at first I thought was a nice change when he took over Question Period and Power Play on CTV News Channel.  However his handling of the COVID situation has been really poor in my opinion.  He always dwells on how "everything is so confusing" especially in Ontario, and "people don't know what to do.."  Please, Evan, you are causing much of the confusion possibly alarming people with your comments. Every day he seems to spend most of his show just on COVID, dwelling on all of the problems and things he finds confusing.  Also some of his interviews are really poor, and a lot of the questions sound off the top of his head with little preparation. Still like Evan on the radio however.  He is better suited and more at ease on radio.

Finally Travis Dhanraj on Global.  I thought he was really great on CP24, and managed to be a good solid reporter/  newsperson and likeable at the same time.  Now at Global he seems to dwell always on finger pointing and playing the blame game on what should have been done and focusing almost always on the negative.  Is this really what news is about?  I heard him on Global Newsradio CHML on Friday with a report and again all negative, focusing only on problems.  Not only is it tedious for the viewer/listener but also for me at least, a turn off.

I better stop with the slamming and negativity now, or I will soon be similar to Rosie, Evan and Dhanraj!      

    

 

April 18, 2021 4:51 pm  #2


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

A bit of an oldie - since I think you're asking about current broadcasters - but I liked Mike Duffy when he was on CBC. Not so much on CTV, particularly as he became more openly partisan - in the years when he was shilling for a Senate appointment. His treatment of Stephan Dion was pretty awful. I wasn't a Dion fan but running false starts from a pre-taped interview was just unfair - especially when you're interviewing someone for whom English is their second language. 

CTV broke ethics code in Dion interview: standards council

Last edited by Hansa (April 18, 2021 4:51 pm)

 

April 18, 2021 4:52 pm  #3


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

Rosie Barton is a solid interviewer but glib is a good description.  She also stumbled constantly on the National which is why I suspect she was removed.  During the early days of covid, she would talk to CBC correspondents up until a couple of minutes before the Prime Minister would speak and then she'd bring on a guest who she would then have to cut off, resulting in the first 15 or 20 seconds of every briefing being missed.  One day she was away and Vassy Kapelos was on.  She had the guest on first, and the correspondent on second, and the correspondent knew to wrap it up and segue to the Prime Minister at the podium without missing anything.  The next day Rosie was back on doing it backwards again, so we switched to CTV from then on.

 

April 21, 2021 10:07 am  #4


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

Bill Carroll did it for me. I started listening to him regularly when he was at 640. In those days he was a great talk-radio host, tackling the issues of the day with an informed take. But as the years went by he became more and more self-absorbed. I did follow him to 1010 but only for a bit. His favourite topic was too often himself (and his terrible love life) and I couldn't stand it. But I did come to understand why women dumped him.

 

April 21, 2021 11:55 am  #5


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

I liked Peter Kent when he did documentaries for The Journal in the 80s and then when he anchored the Christian Science Monitor's short-lived news program but really grew to dislike him when he was at Global TV. 

 

April 21, 2021 12:46 pm  #6


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

Bill "ask me about my friend Pat" Carroll?
Bill "I'm really actually very Scottish" Carrol?

I've heard of him.

 

April 21, 2021 12:55 pm  #7


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

Hansa wrote:

I liked Peter Kent when he did documentaries for The Journal in the 80s and then when he anchored the Christian Science Monitor's short-lived news program but really grew to dislike him when he was at Global TV. 

I'm a bit young to remember Peter Kent on The Journal, but I always found him to be a tad dull on Global. I always preferred Lloyd Robertson.

 

April 21, 2021 1:26 pm  #8


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

Chrisphen wrote:

Bill "I'm really actually very Scottish" Carrol?

Not to be running to his defense, but considering his actual last name is McCarroll and was born there, yeah, he qualifies as Scottish.  He had to spend a lot of time when he was younger "unlearning" his accent.

I'm reminded of a time when he had two of his Cousins on the air from Scotland during the big debate of Scotland breaking away from the U.K.  One was for and one was against.  They both spoke and pronounced very carefully so the audience could understand them.  Invariably, it did get into a bit of a heated argument and both cousins, along with Bill, argued for a bit in a thick, Scottish brogue until cooler heads prevailed.

It was quite amusing.

 

 

April 22, 2021 7:34 pm  #9


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

I'm a serious fan of Terry O'Reilly, host of Under The Influence, and I'm absolutely not getting tired of him or the show, but....

I've noticed at times over the last couple of years the writing on the show has started to change. For the most part it's still highly entertaining, but every now and then there's a show that feels like a bunch of advertising trivia grouped together with little sparkle or cohesion.

I get that you can't hit it out of the park every week. It's most noticeable when he slips in an old show from the archives.

 

April 22, 2021 8:01 pm  #10


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

betaylored wrote:

I'm a serious fan of Terry O'Reilly, host of Under The Influence, and I'm absolutely not getting tired of him or the show, but....

I've noticed at times over the last couple of years the writing on the show has started to change. For the most part it's still highly entertaining, but every now and then there's a show that feels like a bunch of advertising trivia grouped together with little sparkle or cohesion.

I get that you can't hit it out of the park every week. It's most noticeable when he slips in an old show from the archives.

Funny you would say this. I was thinking the exact same thing. And not just this week. Either they're running out of ideas or they're trying a new approach and it's not quite working. This season has lacked the interest of the past series. I like learning things about familiar products or ads I never knew. They haven't done that too often this year and it's noticeable. 

Thursday's episode about the funny things behind the scenes at an ad agency sounded like a good idea, except none of those hilarious moments he teased in the opening were really that amusing. I was actually thinking I have far better and funnier radio stories than any of those. Hopefully, they will find their former glory and make a comeback this year before the season ends. 

 

April 22, 2021 11:24 pm  #11


Re: On Air News People That You Liked at One Point.....But Now Not So Much

RadioActive wrote:

betaylored wrote:

I'm a serious fan of Terry O'Reilly, host of Under The Influence, and I'm absolutely not getting tired of him or the show, but....

I've noticed at times over the last couple of years the writing on the show has started to change. For the most part it's still highly entertaining, but every now and then there's a show that feels like a bunch of advertising trivia grouped together with little sparkle or cohesion.

I get that you can't hit it out of the park every week. It's most noticeable when he slips in an old show from the archives.

Funny you would say this. I was thinking the exact same thing. And not just this week. Either they're running out of ideas or they're trying a new approach and it's not quite working. This season has lacked the interest of the past series. I like learning things about familiar products or ads I never knew. They haven't done that too often this year and it's noticeable. 

Thursday's episode about the funny things behind the scenes at an ad agency sounded like a good idea, except none of those hilarious moments he teased in the opening were really that amusing. I was actually thinking I have far better and funnier radio stories than any of those. Hopefully, they will find their former glory and make a comeback this year before the season ends. 

He has been doing the series since what, 2012? I’m impressed he’s had enough material to make it this far. (I’m a big fan of the show, by the way)

Sometimes as time has gone on new topics have come up, including most recently how marketing has changed during the pandemic. But I do think eventually he’s going to run out of material.