It has taken me until now to realize we Canadians have a national treasure in CBC Radio. I have been listening to CBC Radio 2 a great deal over the past month and I absolutely love it! I am a bit of a classical music buff (from my years playing much of the classical repertoire on the piano) and I have been hearing so many works with which I was previously unfamiliar. Today it was the life and music of Georg Freidrich Handel which I thoroughly enjoyed (nice to go beyond "Watermusik" and "Messiah", as wonderful as they are!) and it left me wanting to hear more from this wonderful composer.
The CBC is a voice that shows us as very much a distinct culture from our neighbours to the south, a voice that has grown more precious with the ever-continuing spread of American "culture" through our nation. It illustrates that our art, our literature, our opinions and our collective sense of humour are unmistakenly unique from those of the States and that they must be protected in the face of that which seeks to make them obsolete. Plus, where would we be without Hockey Night In Canada, Coaches Corner with Don Cherry, Ron MacLean, and the Satellite Hotstove?!
In closing this mini, pro-Canadian rant I must also thank my friends James Kingsley and Stephanie Mitchell (the former whom listens constantly to the CBC and the latter whom works for the hallowed company) for their enthusiasm about the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and Matthew Christopher Davidson for putting on Radio 2 during the mornings I had occasion to work with him. You have helped me to broaden both my tastes and horizons.
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4 comments:
sorry bing, not a cbc guy (like me, your dad would be upset - where are those good western values...what happened to raising a good middle finger to the 'east'?). besides, it's not that special - pretty similar to npr....br
...oh, of all the times you mocked me for listenning to CBC and now you're changing your tune...well. Hey man, don't stop there. Check out Patti Schmidt's Brave New Waves (late night cbc 2) or Randy Bachman's show, Vinyl Tap, Saturday evenings on cbc radio 1; there's more than just classical music on the cbc, my friend. Of course, a little classical in the morning is nice too, and Tom Allen always has interesting tidbits of info about the lives of composers...this is quite the plug, eh. College radio, such as CFUV or CKDU, is always going to be more interesting than commercial stations, so give that a try as well.
oh canada! gotta love the cbc. gotta love it. it's like maple syrup through my headphones; like the sound of skates on a freshly frozen pond glouriously transmitted coast to coat to coast from radio towers perched on hills overlooking this land of the silver birch and home of the beaver.
the national playlist, the vinyl cafe, go...the list doesn't stop. we're talking near 24 hours of great radio programming. and when you take cbc tv into consideration (dare i mention hockey night in canada and The Hour) it only gets better.
and don't even get me started on that wicked logo...
and by the way: br, if by "pretty similar to npr" you mean "and that's damn good," then i'm totally with you. national public radio fans unite! you have nothing to lose but your identity.
I got props on your blog! Sweet...thanks!
Uhhh....yay CBC!
By the way, I hope you've managed to decipher my blog. Leave a comment sometime...don't be shy.
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