Wednesday, September 07, 2005

Good 'news'!

(With pun filled headlines like that, I could be getting a job at the Toronto Sun.)

Until the end of their "lockout", the local CBC employees are putting on a show through CIUT, the university of Toronto radio station, to bring local news and discussion to the airwaves.

It's an interesting strategy by the employees. There is no real competitor for CBC radio in Toronto, so they are creating one. The problem with this tactic is that I'm sure the CBC management realizes that this competitor will not exist as soon as they bring their employees back to work. And, I believe the concern of the management is that they lose listeners to other stations or media for the long term. That won't happen here since CIUT will soon return to playing extremely funky music or lectures by authors and professors.

This will also help maintain the loyalty of the listener with the CBC hosts. But if they're considering giving up their fight and starting a show on their own through the internet, they should take note of Christopher Lydon's battle with WBUR in Boston a few years ago. Different circumstances, but relevant. I'm sure the listership on The Connection was much higher than his Blogging of the President online show. It was all very unfortunate, since I thought The Connection was one of the best shows on the air.

Just get the CBC back on the air. Well, at least now I can hear something instead of "More great music!" Aaagh, not Joni Mitchell again!

Darren J 9/07/2005 12:11:00 p.m.

0 Comments:

Add a comment