I wish to share a quote from Rostropovich’s letter to the authorities regarding their treatment of Solzhenitsyn:Explain to me, please, why in our literature and art so often people absolutely incompetent in this field have the final word, he asked in the letter. Every man must have the right fearlessly to think independently and express his opinion about what he knows, what he has personally thought about and experienced, and not merely to express with slightly different variations the opinion which has been inculcated in him.
CBC is a publicly funded oerganisation and, as such, is compelled to represent the diversity of Canadian voices, particularly those voices which are unlikely to receive publicity or broadcast in for-profit media organisations. The cancellation of the Arts Report, which informed Canadians of current arts events, and of Two New Hours, the lifeline of contemporary Canadian composition, is a devastating blow to a most innovative Canadian cultural community.The CBC has no place competing with for-profit media organisations by broadcasting contemporary pop media, and in pandering to an audience which is already saturated with like programming. In doing so it abandons the programming which is most inquisitive, exceptional, and uniquely Canadian.
I was so sad to discover that these programmes had vanished into thin air. The CBC Radio Two seems to have turned into a Common Broadcaster. Fortunately it is possible to get good programming still from the BBC -- but alas -- no Canadian content. lj
The CBC is, with health care, one of the best treasures of Canada, Radio 2 the most precious part of that treasure and the now former evening programming the jewel in its crown. Priorities need to be revisited!
Since moving to Vancouver I have greatly enjoyed and admired CBC's classical music programming. It is vital to the culture of this country and would be tragic if CBC went the way of the commercial stations by reducing and eliminating its intelligent and inspired classical programming.
If the CBC really wants to grow younger audiences, reinstate Music for a While and In Performance-- the audience will develop through generational conversion. We have lost quality programming in the evenings with the current ill-conceived i-Podish smorgasbord of mixed genre music samplings e.g. Broken Social Scene followed by Schubert. We also need hosts formally educated in music to host music programs because CBC listeners have traditionally embraced the value of learning. We were well-served in this regard for many decades until March 2007.
CBC 2 was a wonderful service, and just about the only source of classical music on the dial. None of the changes that the CBC has made recently are improvements - are they trying to destroy it?? Please restore the classical music content of CBC 2 as well as its informational programming.
At present I am living and working in China where the media is anything but unbiased and government censored. CBC is one of the very few open public broadcasting systems on this planet. Why is CBC 2 lowering itself to the lowest common denometer rather than elevating its programming to satisfy indeoendently thinking people?
I am outraged that the changes to the CBC Radio Two programming were implemented without first consulting those whose opinion should matter the most - the CBC Radio Two audience, who also happen to be the owners of CBC Radio, as stated in the Broadcasting Act, 1991, which states:3.(1) It is hereby declared as the broadcasting policy for Canada that(a) the Canadian broadcasting system shall be effectively owned and controlled by Canadians
Could you also let me know what will happen with Hockey Night in Canada? I think a lot of Canadians are unaware that we could lose this golden goose and eggs.
Remedy this colossal blunder now! How could anyone be so out of touch with their audience ?? ……there is something so high-handed and infuriating, so utterly arrogant and wrong-headed about the Radio 2 make-over and glib Packaging Act that has resulted that it takes shooting-yourself-in-the- foot to a whole other level. The comments on this site (and on the “official” CBC complaint site) leave little doubt as to listener’s response. The dismally slick and trite New Look is not fooling anyone; it‘s about as welcome as having the 47th MacDonalds open in your home town. Demographics be damned ! Bring back the PUBLIC Broadcasting system our tax dollars pay for and the all-too-rare-Canadian cultural resources it was created to provide. The Let-Them-Eat-Cachet Make Over has back-fired Big Time…. After Stephen Colbert‘s “truthiness”, here comes CBC-FM’s “youthiness” !! Yuck. Mush is Mush !! The CBC has no business propagating Pop Culture Pabulum. We are daily inundated with that delightful substance as it is !!
Please restore the evening programming of CBC2 radio to what it was before March. I was away and came home very disappointed in what I heard. I have turned my radio off in the evenings.
There must be a better effort to have local and not-so-local Concerts, Art, and Craft events, concerts,coverage across Canada. Who is the Arts Anchor for CBC-2... Don Cherry???
Canadians are not the only ones at a loss for the CBC's recent massacre of its quality programming... There are those of us in the U.S., as well as around the globe, who feel the harsh, negative impact of the egregiously poor artistic decisions made by the suits at the CBC. With such negatively radical programming changes, the CBC brass have shown a total lack of artistic integrity,
Arts ALWAYS need assistance. They give so much to the culture and fabric of our society yet their true expense cannot be recovered by sales alone. CBC is the Arts Friend in Canada. It is a highly efficient, democratic way of both helping the arts and helping the listener access the arts. CBC needs to focus on the arts, as opposed to commercial music as most stations do, for the health of the artistic community as well as the health of Canadian society as a whole.
I protest the loss of cultural leadership, and the loss of the provocative voice which stands as a foil to populist and market driven media decisions. We do not need another background music broadcaster. We need the CBC which showed leadership and cultural stimulation.
It is deeply disappointing and upsetting to have this excellent program being deleted from the CBC. Instead of maintaining and expanding the diversity and quality of CBC's programming, it is being diminished and downgraded to a low common denominator. Truly a bad omen for our future cultural and political landscape!
Cutting back on programs of new and Classical art music is irresponsible and truly harmful. This type of music should enjoy growing support and should be nurtured in any civilized country. The opposite is the most barbarian disregard for the need of a culture that is a result of a thousand years of conscious music making in the Western world.
