The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (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.
The CBC is the oldest broadcasting service in Canada, first established in its present form on
November 2, 1936. Radio services include CBC Radio One, CBC Radio 2, La
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, Documentary Channel and CBC Country Canada. 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, 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.
History
CBC's Edmonton headquarters.
-
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.
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. Colour television broadcasts began on 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.” Since the 1970s, the CBC has not maintained its dominance in
broadcasting it formerly had, but it still plays an important role. Today, the CBC operates several radio, terrestrial television and cable television networks, in both English and
French, as well as a number of Aboriginal languages in the North.
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 videogames, the Internet, etc.). Private networks in
Canada face the same competition, but their viewership has declined less than that of CBC Television. In English Canada, the
decline in CBC viewership can be partly attributed to the fact that private TV networks primarily rebroadcast American
programming with substituted Canadian advertising. American shows are very popular among English Canadians and often attract much
higher audiences than 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.
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. Larger communities underwent only a one-week
transportation delay, while smaller communities waited up to a month to receive tapes.
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. The CB_T stations now have different CB- callsigns, many beginning with CBE-.
It would be many years before TV programs originated in the north, 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.
Logos
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.
|
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.
|
This alternate logo was used by CBC Television for print ads and program promos from the 1960s until 1974. A version of this
logo was also used for CBC Radio (with “Radio” replacing “Television”).
|
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 to the right).
|
This logo, officially known internally as “the gem” but nicknamed the
“exploding pizza,” was designed for the CBC by graphic artist Burton Kramer in 1974, and
it is the most widely recognized symbol of the corporation. 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 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.
|
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, logo creator Burton Kramer put together an early
version of the network's ID where 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. [1]
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. 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,[citation needed] 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-color 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, with different background colors corresponding to the time of day
behind a CG translucent CBC gem logo and 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.[2]
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.)
Conservative Party referred to it as the “Communist Broadcasting
Corporation” for the supposed left-wing bias in its news coverage. Conversely, some have referred to the CBC as the “Corporate
Broadcasting Corporation” for an alleged free market bias, though the CBC is, in part,
publicly funded.[3]
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 is also mistakenly referred to as the Canadian Broadcasting Company, particularly in American media. [4]
Corporation
-
Mandate
The 1991 Broadcasting Act 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."
Priorities and Strategic Directions
- Ensure distinctive programming of the highest quality.
- Recognise the importance of regional reflection and of the changing face of Canada.
- Ensure the sustainability of CBC/Radio-Canada's Canadian schedules.
- Demonstrate that CBC/Radio-Canada is a well-managed company and generate cash flow to re-invest in programming.
- Strengthen CBC/Radio-Canada's commitment to all its employees – to those who create and those who support them.
- Position CBC/Radio-Canada to enhance its ability to fulfil its mandate through selective alliances and partnerships.
- Reinforce the capacity of CBC/Radio-Canada to work as one integrated company.
- Enhance/strengthen CBC/Radio-Canada's stakeholder relationships.
Corporate structure
- Board of Directors
- Senior Management Committee
- Content Services
- Television
- French Services
- Radio
- News
- Sports
- Entertainment
- Professional Services
- Human Resources and Organization
- Strategy and Business Development
- Finance
- Communications
- Technology
- Commercial Groups
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 Broadcasting Act of 1991, under a Board of Directors and is directly responsible to
Parliament through the Department
of Canadian Heritage. General management of the organisation 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.
- Timothy Casgrain, C.M. - Chairman, Board of Directors, Toronto, Ontario
- Robert Rabinovitch - President and CEO, Ottawa, Ontario
- Johanne Brunet - Marketing Professor, HEC Montréal, Montréal, Québec
- Bernd Christmas - Chief Executive Officer, Membertou Band, Membertou, Nova
Scotia
- Hélène F. Fortin, C.A. - Partner, HLA Chartered Accountants, Longueuil/Brossard, Québec
- Peter Herrndorf, O.C. - President and CEO, National Arts Centre, Ottawa, Ontario
- Yasmin Jivraj - President and Co-owner, Acrodex, Edmonton, Alberta
- Nezhat Khosrowshahi - Inwest Investments Inc., Vancouver, British Columbia
- Howard McNutt - Partner, Goluch + Company, Halifax, Nova Scotia
- Trina McQueen, O.C. - Professor, Broadcast Management, Schulich School of Business, York University,
Toronto, Ontario
- K. (Rai) Sahi - Chairman and CEO, Morguard Corporation, Toronto, Ontario
Presidents
Ombudsmen
Finance
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.
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
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, a source of heated
debates. This differs from 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, including government funding,
subscription fees, advertising revenue, and other revenue (e.g. real estate). 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 "amortisation of property and equipment". Some of this spending was derived from amortisation of
funding from previous years.[5]
The CBC's critics frequently point to the billion-dollar figure to suggest that the corporation is wasting taxpayer dollars to
provide a service that, in their view, is duplicated by private broadcasters, noting that the CBC's TV networks can also access
advertising revenues — whereas private broadcast networks have been able to draw higher ratings using only ad revenue.
The network's defenders note that the CBC's mandate is in fact different than that of private media, including 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 primetime programming, while private networks can fill up most of their primetime 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[6] earned by private broadcaster CanWest Global for its various television operations in fiscal 2006, considered an "off"
year for CanWest's Global and CH networks, which trailed rival CTV's ratings by a wide margin.[7]
Services
News
-
CBC News is the largest broadcast news gathering operation in Canada, providing services to CBC radio as well as television
networks such as CBC Newsworld, local supper hour newscasts, CBC News Online and news,
business, weather and sports information on Air Canada's inflight 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
- Further information: CBC Radio, CBC Radio
One
CBC Radio has four separate services, two in English, known as CBC Radio One and
CBC Radio 2, and two in French, known as La Première
Chaîne and Espace Musique. CBC Radio One and La 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
Quebec, 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.
CBC Radio is considered by many Canadians to be undergoing a "dumbing down" of the programing content. [citation needed] Sounds Like Canada, Go and Freestyle are commonly cited in this argument.
In some communities, the CBC also operates an AM or FM transmitter rebroadcasting weather alerts from the Meteorological Service of Canada's Weatheradio
Canada service.
Television
- Further information: CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada
The CBC operates two national broadcast television networks – CBC Television in
English, and la Télévision de Radio-Canada in French. Both sell
advertising and are otherwise similar to privately owned networks, 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, Gwichʼin, 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 simulcasted some Saturday night games produced by RDS until 2006.
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
CBC Country Canada, a Category
1 digital service. It owns a managing interest in the Francophone arts service ARTV, and
recently announced plans to buy the outstanding majority (82%) of Documentary
Channel, pending CRTC approval.
Online
- Further information: CBC.ca, Radio-Canada.ca,
SRC.ca
The CBC has two main websites. One is in English, at CBC.ca, which was established in 1996
[4]; the other is in French, at Radio-Canada.ca (or SRC.ca).
The website allows the CBC to produce sections which complement the various programmes on television and radio, and it is
common for viewers and listeners to be told website addresses for the cbc.ca sections relating to that program.
Interactive television
CBC provides viewers with interactive on demand TV programs every year through digital
cable like Rogers Cable.
Commercial services
CBC/Radio-Canada offers a 24-hour, 45-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 StarChoice, carry only 20 of these 45 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, in album format.
Miscellaneous
CBC provides news, business, weather and sports information on Air Canada's inflight
entertainment as Enroute Journal.[8]
Unions
Unions represented at CBC/Radio-Canada include[5]:
- Canadian Media Guild (CMG) represents on-air, production, technical, administrative and support staff outside of Quebec and Moncton
- Association of Professionals and Supervisors (APS)
- American Federation of Musicians of the United States and Canada (AFM)
- Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (performers; ACTRA)
- International Alliance of Theatrical, Stage Employees and Moving Picture Machine Operators of the United States and Canada
(stagehands; IATSE)
- Writers Guild of Canada (WGC)
- Association des réalisateurs (AR)
- Syndicat des communications de Radio-Canada (SCRC)
- Société des auteurs de la radio, de la télévision et du cinéma (SARTeC)
- Syndicat Canadien de la fonction publique, Conseil des sections locales, Groupe des employé(e)s de bureau et
professionnel(le)s (SCFP)
- Société professionnelle des auteurs-compositeurs du Québec (SPACQ)
- Syndicat des technicien(ne)s et des artisan(e)s du réseau français (STARF)
- Union des artistes (UDA)
Labour issues
During the summer of 1981 there was a major disruption of CBC programming as the union went on strike. Local newscasts were
cut back to the bare minimum. This had the effect of delaying the debut of the 10 p.m. news hour of The National and
The Journal, which had to wait until January 1982.
On 15 August 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 CBCunplugged.com, 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 struck by a number of other labour disputes since the late 1990s:
- A similar dispute, again involving all technicians outside Quebec and Moncton, occurred 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 without commentary 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 questioned 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
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 based TV and radio programmes for mass audiences. The CBC has made programmes
for minority interests in drama, performance arts, documentaries, current affairs, entertainment and sport.
The main objective has been to provide a service to the Canadian public, which cannot be achieved by importing American
programming. This has changed the public's perception in a wide range of subjects including health and natural history. By
maintaining an enviable high standard, the CBC has also defined a quality in news coverage that the private broadcasters have not
been able to reach. In addition, the export of some CBC programmes such as Little Mosque and Da Vinci's Inquest,
has meant that the cultural impact of the CBC has been experienced world-wide.
Although the CBC has had an impact on society in Canada, the society has also changed the CBC. Beleaguered and criticized as
it has often been throughout its history, nevertheless, the CBC has been one of the bulwarks of a distinctive Canadian identity
ever since its creation in the 1930s. If, at times, the sense of identity on CBC radio and television has seemed insecure and
ambiguous, this only reflected the uncertainties of Canadians themselves. The CBC for over fifty years has intimately associated
itself with the vicissitudes and anxieties of Canada's search for itself. [6]
The 1950's 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, have slightly 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. [7]
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 Buffalo, 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.
CBC television’s U.S. viewers appreciate CBC’s news programs including The
National and The Fifth Estate; comedy programs including
Royal Canadian Air Farce, The
Red Green Show and This is Wonderland; and British programs Coronation Street, Emmerdale, and the 2005 series of Doctor Who, which aired on
CBC before it did in the U.S. Hockey Night in Canada is widely preferred
to American television’s NHL coverage in the border states and has a loyal following. 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
live, 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, CBK in Saskatchewan, and
CJBC in Toronto.
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, DC. 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:
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 of 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:
Criticism
-
Historically, there has been criticism of the CBC for various policies or perceived biases in politics and news coverage since
its inception and more recently over its coverage of events in the Middle East.
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.[9]
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,[10] while others list the year as 1982[11]).
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.[12] 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.[13] 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.[14]
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.[15] 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[16][17]
English-language specialty networks owned or co-owned by CBC,
including Country Canada and the Documentary
Channel, have the lower captioning requirements typical of larger Canadian broadcasters (90% of the broadcast day by the
end of both networks’ licence terms[18][19]). ARTV, the French-language
specialty network co-owned by CBC, has a maximum captioning requirement of 53%.[20]
Personalities
- See also: List
of Canadian Broadcasting Corporation personalities
Widely known CBC alumni
- Dan Aykroyd, Coming Up Rosie, as Purvis
Bickle
- Denise Bombardier, hosted, among others, the shows Présent international,
Le point, Noir sur blanc (1979-1983) and Trait-d’union (1987-1988)
- Stephan Bureau, as a teenager participated in Telejeans, hosted Le Téléjournal/Le point(1998-2003)
- Bill Cameron, correspondent and anchor
- John Candy, Coming Up Rosie, as Wally
Wypyzypywchuk
- Adrienne Clarkson – 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, Kids in the Hall, from
1989-1994, starred in the NBC sitcom Newsradio
- Michael J. Fox, 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 (1939-1942), covering much of
World War II
- Peter Gzowski, prominent journalist and author, host of Morningside; The Private Voice, A Journal of Reflections
- 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, she 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 he hosted a kids’ program called Peter’s People
on CBC Radio in Ottawa[21]
- Kristin Kreuk, Laurel Yeung, in the teen soap Edgemont, 2001
- René Lecavalier, war correspondent (World War
II), then 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, covering such events
as the Korean War (1951–1953) and hosting 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,
