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Media gets taste of CBC 2’s new sound - Toronto Star
By admin1 | August 20, 2008
August 20, 2008
A reconstituted CBC Radio 2 got a head start on its scheduled Sept. 2 launch yesterday with a lavish media preview at CBC’s Toronto headquarters.
The new schedule, boasting 80 per cent Canadian music content, was formally unveiled by the network’s recently appointed key program hosts, Toronto jazz and blues singer Molly Johnson, Juno-winning songwriter and hip-hop artist Rich Terfry, a.k.a. Buck 65, and Canadian mezzo-soprano Julie Nesrallah. All three plan to continue their professional recording and performing careers on modified schedules.
The presentation was punctuated with performances by artists whose music, said CBC Radio program director Chris Boyce, is representative of the network’s new direction: Toronto soul/R&B star Divine Brown, London, Ont., songwriter Basia Bulat, Vancouver-based Alex Cuba and Toronto’s The Gryphon Trio.
CBC Radio 2’s reinvention, after decades as the beloved home of classical music in the Canadian broadcasting system, is the result of “three or four years of development and a lot of research into what it means to be a music service for Canadians today, and what it means to be a responsible public broadcaster,” Boyce said.
“Between 30,000 and 40,000 pieces of Canadian music are released every year, and only 300 or 400 get airplay on commercial radio. Till now, there has been nowhere on radio for the rest of it.”
Of the furore that erupted from classical music fans earlier this year when the network announced its intention to reduce classical music content to five hours on weekdays, Boyce said: “We expected it. This audience cares passionately about music, and we can’t write them off.
“We hope to build the same kind of audience commitment to other forms of Canadian music (in the new schedule).”
Greg Quill
Topics: Press, Press about CBC |
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