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Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
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The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (The CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. In French, it is called la Société Radio-Canada (Radio-Canada or SRC). The umbrella corporate brand is CBC/Radio-Canada.
CBC is the oldest existing broadcasting service in Canada, first established in its present form on November 2, 1936.
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Encyclopedia
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (The CBC), a Canadian crown corporation, is the country’s national public radio and television broadcaster. In French, it is called la Société Radio-Canada (Radio-Canada or SRC). The umbrella corporate brand is CBC/Radio-Canada.
CBC is the oldest existing broadcasting service in Canada, first established in its present form on November 2, 1936. Radio services include CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, CBC Radio 3, Première Chaîne, Espace musique and the international radio service Radio Canada International. Television operations include CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada, CBC Newsworld, le Réseau de l'information, ARTV (part ownership), Documentary and Bold. The CBC operates services for the Canadian Arctic under the names CBC North and Radio Nord Québec. The CBC also operates digital audio service Galaxie and two main websites, one in either official language; it owns 40% of satellite radio broadcaster Sirius Canada, which airs additional CBC services including CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part.
CBC/Radio-Canada offers programming in English, French and eight Aboriginal languages on its domestic radio service; in nine languages on its international radio service, Radio Canada International; and in eight languages on its Web-based radio service RCI Viva, a service for recent and aspiring immigrants to Canada.
The financial structure and the nature of the CBC often place it in the same category as other high-end national broadcasters, such as the British broadcaster BBC, although it should be noted that unlike the BBC, the CBC employs commercial advertising to supplement its federal funding.
History
In 1929, the Aird Commission on public broadcasting recommended the creation of a national radio broadcast network. A major concern was the growing influence of American radio broadcasting as U.S.-based networks began to expand into Canada. Graham Spry and Alan Plaunt lobbied intensely for the project on behalf of the Canadian Radio League. In 1932 the government of R.B. Bennett established the CBC’s predecessor, the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission (CRBC).
The CRBC took over a network of radio stations formerly set up by a federal Crown corporation, the Canadian National Railway. The network was used to broadcast programming to riders aboard its passenger trains, with coverage primarily in central and eastern Canada. On November 2, 1936, the CRBC became a full Crown corporation and gained its present name. Leonard Brockington was the CBC’s first chairman.
For the next few decades, the CBC was responsible for all broadcasting innovation in Canada. It introduced FM radio to Canada in 1946. Television broadcasts from the CBC began on September 6, 1952, with the opening of a station in Montreal, Quebec (CBFT), and a station in Toronto, Ontario (CBLT) opening two days later. The CBC’s first privately owned affiliate television station, CKSO in Sudbury, Ontario, launched in October 1953. (At the time, all private stations were expected to affiliate with the CBC, a condition that relaxed in 1960–61 with the launch of CTV.)
From 1944 to 1962 the CBC operated two English-language AM radio services known as the Trans-Canada Network and the Dominion Network. The latter, carrying lighter programs including American radio shows, was dissolved in 1962, while the former became known as CBC Radio. (In the late 1990s, CBC Radio was rebranded as CBC Radio One and CBC Stereo as CBC Radio Two. The latter was re-branded slightly in 2007 as CBC Radio 2.)
On July 1, 1958, CBC’s television signal was extended from coast to coast. The first Canadian tv show shot in colour was the CBC’s own The Forest Rangers in 1963. However, colour television broadcasts did not begin until July 1, 1966, and full-colour service began in 1974. In 1978, CBC became the first broadcaster in the world to use an orbiting satellite for television service, linking Canada “from east to west to north.”
Frontier Coverage Package
Starting in 1967 and continuing until the mid-1970s, the CBC provided limited television service to remote and northern communities. Transmitters were built in a few locations and carried a four-hour selection of black-and-white videotaped programs each day. The tapes were flown into communities to be shown, then transported to other communities, often by the “bicycle” method used in television syndication. Transportation delays ranged from one week for larger centres to almost a month for small communities.
The first FCP station was started in Yellowknife in 1967, the second in Whitehorse in 1968. Additional stations were added from 1969 to 1972. Most stations were fitted for the Anik satellite signal during 1973, carrying 12 hours of colour programming. Broadcasts were geared to either the Atlantic time zone (UTC-4 or -3) or the Pacific time zone (UTC-8 or -7) even though the audience resided in communities in time zones varying from UTC-5 to UTC-8.
Some of these stations used non-CBC callsigns such as CFWH-TV in Whitehorse, while some others used the standard CB_T callsign.
It would be many years before TV programs originated in the north without the help of the west, starting with one half-hour per week in the 1980s with Focus North and graduating to a daily half-hour newscast, Northbeat, in the late 1990s.
CBC Television slogans
- 1966: “Television is CBC”
- 1970 (ca.): “When you watch, watch the best”
- 1977: “Bringing Canadians Together”
- 1980: “We Are the CBC”
- 1984: “Look to us for good things” (general)/”Good to Know” (news and public affairs)
- 1988–1989: “Best on the Box”
- 1990–1991: “CBC and You”
- 1992–1994: “Go Public”/”CBC: Public Broadcasting” (that season, the CBC emphasized the fact that they are a public broadcaster)
- 1995–2001: “Television to Call Our Own”
- 2002–2007: “Canada’s Own”
- 2007 to present: “Canada Lives Here”
Logos
Image:CBC_Logo_1940-1958.png|This is the original logo of the CBC, used between 1940 and 1958. It features a map of Canada and a lightning-bolt design used to symbolize broadcasting.
Image:CBC_Logo_1958-1966.png|The CBC used this logo at the end of network programs between 1958 and 1974. It consists simply of the legends “CBC” and “Radio-Canada” overlaid on a map of Canada. The version shown here was used by Radio-Canada, while the CBC used a version with the legends transposed.
Image:CBC_Logo_1966-1974.svg|This “Butterfly” logo was designed for the CBC by Hubert Tison in 1966 to mark the network’s progressing transition from black-and-white to colour television (much in the manner of the American NBC Television Network’s peacock symbol). It was used at the beginning of programs broadcast in colour, and was used until all CBC TV programs had successfully switched to colour, at which point it was replaced with “the gem” (see below). A sketch on the CBC Television program ‘‘Wayne & Shuster’’ once referred to this as the logo of the “Cosmic Butterfly Corporation.”
Image:CBC_Logo_1974-1986.svg|This logo, officially known internally as “the gem,” was designed for the CBC by graphic artist Burton Kramer in 1974, and it is the most widely recognized symbol of the corporation. (It was also dubbed "The Exploding Pineapple" in the press at the time, and is still sometimes referred to that way today.) The appearance of this logo marked the arrival of full-colour network television service. The large shape in the middle is the letter C, which stands for Canada, and the radiating parts of the C symbolize broadcasting. The theme music for the 1974 CBC ident was an 11-note synthesized fanfare accompanied by the voiceover “This is CBC.”
Image:CBC_Logo_1986-1992.svg|The logo was officially changed to one colour (generally dark blue on white, or white on dark blue) in 1986. Print ads and most television promos, however, have always used a single-colour version of this logo since 1974.
Image:CBC Logo 1992-Present.svg|The logo was simplified in 1992. Since the early 2000s, it has also appeared in white on a textured or coloured background.
When the creation of the CBC “gem” logo was in its planning stages in 1974, designer Burton Kramer put together an early version of the network’s ID. In it, the C part of the logo zoomed away from the viewer toward the centre of the screen, followed by the other parts of the logo in similar fashion until the complete logo formed on a black background, with the name “Television Canada” (possibly a planned change of name for the CBC’s television units at the time) appearing beneath it.
Although that version of the network ID was not used, the well-known version of the ID (with the logo kaleidoscopically morphing into its form while radiating outward from the centre of the screen on a blue background) made its TV debut on the CBC’s English and French networks in December 1974. Some refer to this animated version as “The Exploding Pizza.” The jingle initially used for the ID was a three-note synthesized jingle with an announcer saying “This is CBC” or «Ici Radio-Canada» at the end of the ID, but that short-lived jingle was replaced around 1976 by the more well-known eleven-note jingle, which lasted until December 31, 1985.
The updated one-colour version of the gem logo was introduced on January 1, 1986, and with it was introduced a new series of computer graphic-generated TV IDs for CBC and Radio-Canada. These IDs consisted of different background colours corresponding to the time of day behind a translucent CBC gem logo, accompanied by different arrangements of the CBC’s new, orchestrated five-note jingle.
When the CBC logo was updated to its current form in 1992, new TV IDs were introduced in November that year, also using CG.
Nicknames
As the oldest currently operating Canadian broadcaster, and still the largest in terms of national availability of its various networks, the nickname “Mother Corp” and variants thereof are sometimes used in reference to the CBC.
A popular satirical nickname for the CBC, commonly used in the pages of Frank, is “the Corpse.”
There is an urban legend that a CBC announcer once referred to the network on the air as the “Canadian Broadcorping Castration,” which also sometimes remains in use as a satirical nickname. Quotations of the supposed spoonerism are wildly variable in detail on what was said, when it was said or even who the announcer was, but there is no evidence to confirm its existence. (Although a few recordings do exist of an announcer speaking this phrase, none has ever been confirmed as authentic.)
Some have referred to the CBC as the “Corporate Broadcasting Corporation” for an alleged free market bias, though the CBC is largely publicly funded.
The CBC was also jokingly called BBC Canada during the 2005 lockout by Canadians and CBC workers due to the large amount of British content then aired in place of the regular schedule.
The CBC has also been mistakenly referred to as the Canadian Broadcasting Company.
Corporation
Mandate
The states that...
...the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, as the national public broadcaster, should provide radio and television services incorporating a wide range of programming that informs, enlightens and entertains;
...the programming provided by the Corporation should:
- be predominantly and distinctively Canadian,
- reflect Canada and its regions to national and regional audiences, while serving the special needs of those regions,
- actively contribute to the flow and exchange of cultural expression,
- be in English and in French, reflecting the different needs and circumstances of each official language community, including the particular needs and circumstances of English and French linguistic minorities,
- strive to be of equivalent quality in English and French,
- contribute to shared national consciousness and identity,
- be made available throughout Canada by the most appropriate and efficient means and as resources become available for the purpose, and
- reflect the multicultural and multiracial nature of Canada.
Management
As a crown corporation, the CBC operates at arm’s length (autonomously) from the government in its day-to-day business. The corporation is governed by the of 1991, under a Board of Directors and is directly responsible to Parliament through the Department of Canadian Heritage. General management of the organization is in the hands of a President, who is appointed by the Prime Minister.
Board of Directors
In accordance with the Broadcasting Act, the Board of Directors is responsible for the management of the Corporation. The Board is made up of 12 members, including the Chair and the President and CEO. As of October 2008, the board consists of:
- Timothy Casgrain – Chair, Board of Directors; Toronto, Ontario
- Hubert Lacroix – President and CEO; Montreal, Quebec
- Linda Black – member, Law Enforcement Review Board of Alberta; Calgary, Alberta
- George Cooper – senior partner, McInnes Cooper; Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Joseph Handley – former premier of the Northwest Territories; Yellowknife, Northwest Territories
- Peter Herrndorf – President and CEO, National Arts Centre; Ottawa, Ontario
- Patricia McIver – chartered accountant with Richardson Partners; Vancouver, British Columbia
- Trina McQueen – professor of Broadcast Management, Schulich School of Business, York University; Toronto, Ontario
- Brian Mitchell – managing partner, Mitchell Gattuso; Montreal, Quebec
- Rémi Racine – chairman and CEO, Artificial Mind & Movement; Montreal, Quebec
- Edna Turpin – educator; St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
- One vacancy
Presidents
Ombudsmen
English
French
Finance
For the fiscal year 2006, the CBC received a total of $1.53 billion from all revenue sources, including government funding, subscription fees, advertising revenue, and other revenue (e.g. real estate).
Funding
Among its revenue sources for the year ending March 31, 2006, the CBC received $946 million in its “permanent” funding from the federal government, as well as $60 million in one-time supplementary funding for programming. However, this supplementary funding has been repeated annually, on a year-to-year basis, for a number of years. This totals just over a billion dollars annually and is a source of heated debate.
CBC’s funding differs from that of the public broadcasters of many European nations, which collect a licence fee, or those in the United States, such as PBS and NPR, which receive some public funding but rely to a large extent on voluntary contributions from individual viewers and listeners.
To supplement this funding, the CBC’s television networks and websites sell advertising, while cable/satellite-only services such as Newsworld additionally collect subscriber fees, in line with their privately owned counterparts. CBC’s radio services do not sell advertising except when required by law (for example, to political parties during federal elections).
For the fiscal year 2006, the CBC received a total of $1.53 billion from all revenue sources. Expenditures for the year included $616 million for English TV, $402 million for French TV, $126 million for specialty channels, a total of $348 million for radio services in both languages, $88 million for management and technical costs, and $124 million for “amortization of property and equipment.” Some of this spending was derived from amortization of funding from previous years.
The network’s defenders note that the CBC’s mandate differs from private media’s, particularly in its focus on Canadian content; that much of the public funding actually goes to the radio networks; and that the CBC is responsible for the full cost of most of its prime-time programming, while private networks can fill up most of their prime-time schedules with American series acquired for a fraction of their production cost. CBC supporters also claim that additional, long-term funding is required to provide better Canadian dramas and improved local programming.
The $616 million budget for CBC Television is in fact smaller than, for example, the $656 million in revenues earned by private broadcaster CanWest Global for its various television operations in fiscal 2006, which trailed rival CTV’s ratings by a wide margin.
Although the CBC has a similar remit to that of the BBC, and therefore has a unique national responsibility to advance Canadian culture without commercial objects, the CBC's budget is a fraction the size of the BBC's budget. The BBC received about £3.1 billion (more than $8 billion) in licence fees during 2007/8 compared to the $946 million the CBC received from the public purse and which was split between French language and English language services.
Services
News
CBC News is the largest broadcast newsgathering operation in Canada, providing services to CBC radio as well as CBC Newsworld, local supper-hour newscasts, CBC News Online, and Air Canada’s in-flight entertainment. New CBC News services also proving popular such as news alerts to mobile phones and PDAs. Desktop news alerts, e-mail alerts, and digital TV alerts are also available.
Radio
CBC Radio has four separate services, two in English, known as CBC Radio One and CBC Radio 2, and two in French, known as Première Chaîne and Espace musique. CBC Radio One and Première Chaîne focus on news and information programming, but they air some music programs, variety shows, comedy, and sports programming. Historically, CBC Radio One has broadcast primarily on the AM band, but many stations have moved over to FM. CBC Radio 2 and Espace musique, found exclusively on FM, air arts and cultural programming, with a focus on music (mostly classical and jazz).
CBC Radio also operates two shortwave services. One, Radio Nord Québec, broadcasts domestically to Northern Quebec on a static frequency of 9625 kHz, and the other, Radio Canada International, provides broadcasts to the United States and around the world in eight languages. Additionally, the Radio One stations in St. John’s and Vancouver operate shortwave relay transmitters, broadcasting at 6160 kHz. Some have suggested that CBC/Radio-Canada create a new high-power shortwave digital radio service for more effective coverage of isolated areas.
In November, 2004, the CBC, in partnership with Standard Broadcasting and Sirius Satellite Radio, applied to the CRTC for a license to introduce satellite radio service to Canada. The CRTC approved the subscription radio application, as well as two others for satellite radio service, on June 16, 2005. Sirius Canada launched on December 1, 2005, with a number of CBC Radio channels, including the new services CBC Radio 3 and Bande à part.
In some areas, especially national or provincial parks, the CBC also operates an AM or FM transmitter rebroadcasting weather alerts from the Meteorological Service of Canada’s Weatheradio Canada service.
Television
The CBC operates two national broadcast television networks – CBC Television in English, and la Télévision de Radio-Canada in French. Like private broadcasters, both those networks sell advertising, but offer more Canadian-produced programming. Most CBC television stations, including those in the major cities, are owned and operated by the CBC itself and carry a common schedule, aside from local programming.
Some stations that broadcast from smaller cities are private affiliates of the CBC, that is, stations which are owned by commercial broadcasters and air a predominantly CBC schedule. However, most affiliates of the English network opt out of some network programs to air local programming or more popular foreign programs acquired from other broadcasters. Private affiliates of the French network, all of which are located in Quebec, rarely have the means to provide alternate programming. Such private affiliates are becoming increasingly rare.
CBC television stations in Nunavut, the Northwest Territories and Yukon tailor their programming mostly to the local native population, and broadcast in many native languages, such as Inuktitut, Gwich'in, and Dene.
One of the most popular shows is the weekly Saturday night broadcast of NHL hockey games. In English, the program is known as Hockey Night in Canada, and in French, it was called La Soirée du hockey. Both shows began in 1952. The French edition was discontinued in 2004, though Radio-Canada stations outside of Quebec simulcast some Saturday night games produced by RDS until 2006. The network suffered considerable public embarrassment when it lost the rights to the show's theme music following a protracted lawsuit launched by the song's composer and publishers.
Ratings for CBC Television have declined in recent years. In Quebec, where the majority speaks French, la Télévision de Radio-Canada is popular and garners some of the highest ratings in the province.
Both terrestrial networks have also begun to roll out high-definition television feeds, with selected NHL and CFL games produced in HD for the English network.
The CBC also operates three specialty television channels – CBC Newsworld, an English-language news channel; RDI, a French-language news channel; and Bold, a Category 1 digital service. It owns a managing interest in the Francophone arts service ARTV, and (82%) of the digital channel, Documentary
Online
The CBC has two main websites. One is in English, at CBC.ca, which was established in 1996; the other is in French. The website allows the CBC to produce sections which complement the various programs on television and radio.
Merchandising
Established in 2002, the CBC/Radio Canada merchandising business operates retail locations and cbcshop.ca, sells media to educational institutions and licenses brands such as Hockey Night in Canada and Coronation Street.
Interactive television
CBC provides viewers with interactive on demand TV programs every year through digital-cable services like Rogers Cable.
Commercial services
CBC/Radio-Canada offers a 24-hour, 52-channel digital audio service known as Galaxie. The service is available on digital cable and direct broadcast satellite television providers across Canada. Some cable companies, as well as direct broadcast satellite service provider Star Choice, carry only 20 of these 52 channels alongside Max Trax, a competing 20-channel digital music service offered by Corus Entertainment.
CBC Records is a Canadian record label which distributes CBC programming, including live concert performances and album transcripts of news and information programming such as the Massey Lectures, in album format. Music albums on the label, predominantly in the classical and jazz genres, are distributed across Canada in commercial record stores, while albums containing spoken word programming are predominantly distributed by the CBC's own retail merchandising operations.
Miscellaneous
CBC provides news, business, weather and sports information on Air Canada’s inflight entertainment as Enroute Journal.
Unions
Unions representing employees at CBC/Radio-Canada include:
- Canadian Media Guild () represents on-air, production, technical, administrative and support staff outside of Quebec and Moncton
- Association of Professionals and Supervisors ()
- American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada ()
- Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (performers; )
- International Alliance of Theatrical, Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada (stagehands; )
- Writers Guild of Canada ()
- Association des réalisateurs ()
- Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada ()
- Société des auteurs de la radio, de la télévision et du cinéma ()
- Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique, Conseil des sections locales, Groupe des employé(e)s de bureau et professionnel(le)s ()
- Société professionnelle des auteurs-compositeurs du Québec ()
- Syndicat des technicien(ne)s et des artisan(e)s du réseau français ()
- Union des artistes ()
Labour issues
During the summer of 1981 there was a major disruption of CBC programming as the technicians union, N.A.B.E.T. (National Association of Broadcast Employees and Technicians) went on strike. Local newscasts were cut back to the bare minimum. This had the effect of delaying the debut The National and The Journal, which had to wait until January 1982.
On August 15, 2005, 5,500 employees of the CBC (about 90%) were locked out by CBC CEO Robert Rabinovitch in a dispute over future hiring practices. At issue were the rules governing the hiring of contract workers in preference to full time hires. The locked-out employees were members of the Canadian Media Guild, representing all production, journalistic and on-air personnel outside Quebec and Moncton, including several foreign correspondents. While CBC services continued during the lockout, they were comprised primarily of repeats, with news programming from the BBC and newswires. Major CBC programs such as The National and Royal Canadian Air Farce were not produced during the lockout. Meanwhile, the locked-out employees produced podcasts and websites such as , which many credited with swaying public opinion to the union’s side.
After a hiatus, talks re-opened. In addition, the Canadian public was becoming irritated with the loss of quality of their publicly funded service. On September 23, the federal minister of labour called Robert Rabinovitch and Arnold Amber (the president of the CBC branch of the Canadian Media Guild) to his office for talks aimed at ending the dispute.
Late in the evening of October 2, 2005, it was announced that the CBC management and staff had reached a tentative deal which resulted in the CBC returning to normal operations on October 11. Some speculated that the looming October 8 start date for the network’s most important television property, Hockey Night in Canada, had acted as an additional incentive to resolve the dispute.
The CBC has been affected by a number of other labour disputes since the late 1990s:
- A similar dispute, again involving all technicians outside Quebec and Moncton, in late 2001 and concluded by the end of the year.
- In spring 2002, on-air staff in Quebec and Moncton (again, on both English and French networks) were locked out by local management, leaving, among other things, NHL playoff games on French television.
While all labour disputes resulted in cut-back programming and numerous repeat airings, the 2005 lockout may have been the most damaging to CBC. All local programming in the affected regions was cancelled and replaced by abbreviated national newscasts and national radio morning shows. BBC World (television) and World Service (radio) and Broadcast News feeds were used to provide the remainder of original news content, and the CBC website was comprised mainly of rewritten wire copy. Some BBC staff protested against their material being used during the CBC lockout. “The NUJ and BECTU will not tolerate their members’ work being used against colleagues in Canada,” said a joint statement by BBC unions. The CMG whether, with its limited Canadian news content, the CBC was meeting its legal requirements under the Broadcasting Act and its CRTC licences.
Galaxie supplied some music content for the radio networks. Tapes of previously-aired or -produced documentaries, interviews and entertainment programs were also aired widely. Selected television sports coverage, including that of the Canadian Football League, continued, but without commentary.
As before, French-language staff outside of Quebec were also affected by the 2005 lockout, although with Quebec producing the bulk of the French networks’ programming, those networks were not as visibly affected by the dispute apart from local programs.
Cultural significance
Since the 1970s, the CBC has not maintained the dominance in broadcasting it formerly had, but it still plays an important role. The CBC’s cultural influence, like that of many public broadcasters, has waned in recent decades. This is partly due to severe budget cuts by the Canadian federal government, which began in the late 1980s and levelled off in the late 1990s. It is also due to industry-wide fragmentation of TV audiences (the decline of network TV generally, due to the rise in specialty channel viewership, as well as the increase of non-TV entertainment options such as video games, the Internet, etc.). Private networks in Canada face the same competition, but their viewership is declining more slowly than CBC Television’s.
In English-speaking Canada, the decline in CBC viewership can be partly attributed to the fact that private TV networks primarily rebroadcast popular American programming with substituted Canadian advertising. American programs appear to attract higher audiences than do much of the made-in-Canada programming that is a CBC specialty.
Viewership on the CBC’s French TV network has also declined, mostly because of stiff competition from private French-language networks. Audience fragmentation is another issue – French Canadians prefer home-grown television programming, a vibrant Quebec star system is in place, and little American or foreign content airs on French-language networks, public or private. On the other hand, the CBC’s French-language radio channel is sometimes the top-rated network.
In the case of breaking news, including federal elections, the CBC may still hold a slight edge. For instance, after election night 2006, CBC Television took out full-page newspaper ads claiming that 2.2 million Canadians watched their coverage, more than any other broadcaster. However, in similar ads, CTV also claimed to be number one, stating there was a CBC audience of only 1.2 million. In both cases, the methodologies were not clear from the ads, such as whether simulcasts on one or both of the networks’ news channels (Newsworld for CBC, Newsnet for CTV) were counted.
The CBC was the only television network broadcasting in Canada until the creation of ITO, a short-lived predecessor of today’s CTV, in 1960; even then, large parts of Canada did not receive CTV service until the late 1960s or early 1970s. The CBC also had the only national radio network. Its cultural impact was therefore significant since many Canadians had little or no choice for their information and entertainment other than from these two powerful media.
Even after the advent of commercial television and radio, the CBC has remained one of the main elements in Canadian popular culture through its obligation to produce Canadian TV and radio programming. The CBC has made programs for mass audiences and for smaller audiences interested in drama, performance arts, documentaries, current affairs, entertainment and sport.
The 1950s saw the CBC providing hands-on training and employment for actors, writers, and directors in the developing field of its television dramatic services, and later saw much of the talent heading south to seek fame and fortune in New York and Hollywood.
Competition from private broadcasters like CTV, Global, and other broadcast television stations and specialty channels has lessened the CBC’s reach, but nevertheless it remains a major influence on Canadian popular culture. According to the corporation’s research, 92% of Canadians consider the CBC an essential service.
CBC in other countries
Newsworld International
From 1994 to 2000, the CBC, in a venture with Power Broadcasting (former owner of CKWS in Kingston), jointly owned two networks:
- Newsworld International (NWI), an American cable channel that rebroadcast much of the programming of CBC Newsworld
- Trio, an arts and entertainment channel
In 2000, CBC and Power Broadcasting sold these channels to Barry Diller’s USA Networks. Diller’s company was later acquired by Vivendi Universal, which in turn was partially acquired by NBC to form NBC Universal. NBC Universal still owns the Trio brand, which no longer has any association with the CBC (and, as of the end of 2005, became an Internet-only broadband channel).
However, the CBC continued to program NWI, with much of its programming simulcast on the domestic Newsworld service. In late 2004, as a result of a further change in NWI’s ownership to the INdTV consortium (including Joel Hyatt and former Vice-President of the United States Al Gore), NWI ceased airing CBC programming on August 1, 2005, when it was renamed Current TV.
U.S. border audiences
In U.S. border communities such as Bellingham, Seattle, Detroit and Burlington, CBC radio and television stations can be received over-the-air and have a significant audience.
Some CBC programming is also rebroadcast on local radio, such as New Hampshire Public Radio. CBC television channels are available on cable systems located near the Canadian border. For example, CBET Windsor is available on cable systems in the Detroit, Michigan and Toledo, Ohio area. CBUT is broadcast on Comcast in the Seattle, Washington area.
Hockey Night in Canada is widely preferred to American television’s NHL coverage in the border states and has a loyal following. Also, CBC signals are not subject to FCC censorship. CBC’s Olympic coverage is also well-received, as it provides an alternative to NBC’s coverage, which, some have alleged, focuses too much on American athletes. CBC’s Olympic coverage is also carried live, regardless of broadcast time, compared to NBC’s tape delay.
At night, the AM radio transmissions of both CBC and SRC services can be received over much of the northern portion of the United States, from stations such as CBE in Windsor, CBW in Winnipeg and CBK in Saskatchewan.
Carriage of CBC News
On September 11, 2001, several American broadcasters without their own news operations, including C-SPAN, carried the CBC’s coverage of the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City and Washington, D.C.. In the days after September 11, C-SPAN carried CBC’s nightly newscast, The National, anchored by Peter Mansbridge. The quality of this coverage was recognized specifically by the Canadian Journalism Foundation; editor-in-chief Tony Burman later accepted the Excellence in Journalism Award (2004) – for “rigorous professional practice, accuracy, originality and public accountability” – on behalf of the service.
C-SPAN has also carried CBC’s coverage of major events affecting Canadians, including:
- Canadian federal elections
- Six days in September 2000 that marked the death and state funeral of Pierre Elliott Trudeau
- The war in Iraq: The National aired on C-SPAN each night for about 3 weeks following the start of the war on Iraq
- The power outage crisis in summer 2003
- Key proceedings in Canadian Parliament
- U.S. presidential elections: In 2004, C-SPAN picked up The National the day after the election for the view from Canadians. In 2008, C-SPAN carried the CBC's coverage of the election.
- State visits and official visits of American presidents to Canada
- Barack Obama inauguration in 2009.
Several PBS stations also air some CBC programming, especially The Red Green Show. However, these programs are syndicated by independent distributors and are not governed by the PBS “common carriage” policy.
Other American broadcast networks sometimes air CBC reports, especially for Canadian events of international significance. For example, in the early hours after the Swissair Flight 111 disaster, CNN aired CBC’s live coverage of the event. Also in the late 1990s, CNN Headline News aired a few CBC reports of events that were not significant outside Canada.
CBC Radio
Some CBC Radio One programs, such as Definitely Not the Opera and As It Happens, also air on some stations associated with American Public Media.
With the launch of Sirius Canada in December 2005, some of the CBC’s radio networks (including Radio Canada International and Sirius-exclusive Radio Three and Bande à part channels) are available to Sirius subscribers in the United States.
Caribbean and Bermuda
Several Caribbean nations carry feeds of CBC TV:
Controversies
Closed captioning
CBC Television was an early leader in broadcasting programming with closed captioning for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers, airing its first captioned programming in 1981. Captioned programming in Canada began with the airing of Clown White in English- and French-language versions on CBC Television and Radio-Canada, respectively. (Most sources list that event as occurring in 1981, while others list the year as 1982.)
In 1997, Henry Vlug, a deaf lawyer in Vancouver, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission alleging that an absence of captioning on some programming on CBC Television and Newsworld infringed on his rights as a person with a disability. A ruling in 2000 by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal, which later heard the case, sided with Vlug and found that an absence of captioning constituted discrimination on the basis of disability. The Tribunal ordered CBC Television and Newsworld to caption the entirety of their broadcast days, “including television shows, commercials, promos and unscheduled news flashes, from sign-on until sign-off.”
The ruling recognized that “there will inevitably be glitches with respect to the delivery of captioning” but that “the rule should be full captioning.” In a negotiated settlement to avoid appealing the ruling to the Federal Court of Canada, CBC agreed to commence 100% captioning on CBC Television and Newsworld beginning November 1, 2002. CBC Television and Newsworld are apparently the only broadcasters in the world required to caption the entire broadcast day. However, published evidence asserts that CBC is not providing the 100% captioning ordered by the Tribunal.
In 2004, retired Canadian Senator Jean-Robert Gauthier, a hard-of-hearing person, filed a complaint with the Canadian Human Rights Commission against Radio-Canada concerning captioning, particularly the absence of real-time captioning on newscasts and other live programming. As part of the settlement process, Radio-Canada agreed to submit a report on the state of captioning, especially real-time captioning, on Radio-Canada and RDI. The report, which was the subject of some criticism, proposed an arrangement with Cité Collégiale, a community college in Ottawa, to train more French-language real-time captioners.
English-language specialty networks owned or co-owned by CBC, including Bold and Documentary, have the lower captioning requirements typical of larger Canadian broadcasters (90% of the broadcast day by the end of both networks’ licence terms). ARTV, the French-language specialty network co-owned by CBC, has a maximum captioning requirement of 53%.
“Beyond the Red Wall”
In November 2007, the CBC replaced their documentary ‘‘Beyond the Red Wall: Persecution of Falun Gong’’ at the last minute with a rerun episode regarding President Pervez Musharaf in Pakistan. Originally, the broadcaster had said to the press that “the crisis in Pakistan was considered more urgent and much more newsworthy,” but sources from within the network itself had stated that the Chinese government had called the Canadian Embassy and demanded repeatedly that the program be taken off the air. The documentary in question was to air on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 on CBC Newsworld, but was replaced. The documentary aired two weeks later on November 20, 2007, after editing.
Personalities
Widely known CBC alumni
- Dan Aykroyd in Coming Up Rosie as Purvis Bickle
- Jim Bittermann, Toronto based reporter; now CNN senior correspondent
- Denise Bombardier, host of, among others, the shows Présent international, Le point, Noir sur blanc (1979–1983) and Trait-d’union (1987–1988)
- Stephan Bureau participated in Telejeans as a teenager and later hosted Le Téléjournal/Le point(1998–2003)
- Bill Cameron, correspondent and anchor
- John Candy in Coming Up Rosie as Wally Wypyzypywchuk
- Adrienne Clarkson, a former Governor General of Canada, hosted shows such as Take 30 and the fifth estate
- Joan Donaldson, former journalist and producer of CBC Newsworld
- Dave Foley, writer and actor on Kids in the Hall from 1989–1994, starred in the NBC sitcom Newsradio
- Michael J. Fox as The Master in The Magic Lie series, 1978
- Barbara Frum, host of As It Happens (1971–1981) and The Journal (1982–1992)
- Lorne Greene, CBC’s chief radio announcer and newsreader (1939–1942)
- Peter Gzowski, prominent journalist and author, host of Morningside
- Jay Ingram hosted Quirks and Quarks from 1979 to 1992
- Judith Jasmin started working for Radio-Canada in the late 1940s, co-hosted Carrefour with René Lévesque on Radio-Canada (radio);, hosted Reportage and Conférence de presse; became the first woman named foreign correspondent for Radio-Canada at the UN (1966), and then in Washington, DC.
- Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada, hosted the documentary series The Passionate Eye and Grands Reportages and produced and hosted individual documentary films
- Peter Jennings, at age nine, hosted a kids’ program called Peter’s People on CBC Radio in Ottawa
- Kristin Kreuk and Laurel Yeung, in the teen soap Edgemont, 2001
- René Lecavalier, war correspondent (World War II), later hosted La Soirée du hockey from its beginning on Radio-Canada television on October 11, 1952 (Montreal Canadiens vs. Detroit Red Wings) until the 1970s
- René Lévesque, journalist for Radio-Canada from after World War II (during which he served as war correspondent for the US Army) to 1960. Lévesque covered such events as the Korean War (1951–1953) and hosted Point de mire. He moved on, becoming a prominent cabinet minister in Quebec’s Liberal Government under Jean Lesage (1960), and later Premier of Quebec (Parti Québécois, 1976).
- Mark McKinney, writer and actor in Kids in the Hall from 1989–1994
- Lorne Michaels in The Hart and Lorne Terrific Hour, 1970–1971
- Anne Murray appeared on Singalong Jubilee, in the 1960s.
- Mike Myers in Range Ryder and the Calgary Kid, 1977; guest role on King of Kensington
- Knowlton Nash, prominent newsreader and host
- Catherine O’Hara in Coming Up Rosie as Myrna Wallbacker
- Christopher Plummer starred in a CBC TV production of Othello in 1951
- Lloyd Robertson hosted CBC Weekend in 1969 and anchored CBC’s The National from 1970 to 1976
- Fred Rogers’ Misterogers show (CBC, 1962) show became Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood on NET (later PBS) in 1968
- Percy Saltzman, weatherman, was the first person to have appeared on CBC Television in 1952
- Jeanne Sauvé, a Governor General of Canada, was a freelance journalist for CBC Radio starting in 1952
- Lorne Saxberg, original CBC Newsworld anchor
- Martin Short in Peep Show (“Goldberg is Waiting” episode)
- Lister Sinclair, long time host of CBC radio program Ideas (radio show)
- Cy Strange, host of As It Happens and Fresh Air for many decades
- Donald Sutherland started at age 14 with CBC Radio in Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Jan Tennant, the first woman to host The National when she appeared as a substitute and weekend newsreader
- Scott Thompson writer and actor in Kids in the Hall from 1989–1994
- Alex Trebek, Reach for the Top co-host, Strategy host, 1969
- Pamela Wallin, producer on CBC Radio. Her first TV work was on CTV’s Canada AM. She later appeared on CBC Television as cohost of Prime Time News and later as host of Pamela Wallin Live.
- Al Waxman, star of the 1970s sitcom King of Kensington, starred on CBS drama Cagney & Lacey
See also
External links
- – The official blog of the CBC
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