Dr. Colin Eatock, composer
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CBC Radio 2: Three Years Later

9/5/2011

23 Comments

 
Picture
Audience: small to smaller.
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In this, some people will find plenty to celebrate: after all, the CBC has done a lot since it went on the air as a radio service in 1936, providing Canadians with news, sports and entertainment – and generally doing it well.

One thing they used to do well was classical music. Of course, they don’t any more – not since they gutted classical programming on CBC Radio 2.


It was almost exactly three years ago today that the CBC completed the dismantling of its largely classical schedule. Despite the vocal protests of classical-music fans across the country – which should have told CBC executives how dear the network’s programming was to its listeners – they chopped what used to be a full day of classical music down to a shadow of its former self. (While they were at it, they also shut down the CBC’s record label, and jettisoned the CBC Vancouver Orchestra.)

One of the reasons the CBC gave for this change was the low ratings that Radio 2 consistently received. Averaged nationally, the network failed to attract much more than a 3 percent audience share. In other words, considering all the radio stations that 100 anglophone Canadians might be tuned to at any given time, CBC Radio 2 could be expected to have about three people listening in.

CBC execs decided they needed to attract a new, younger audience, and, to this end, filled the Radio 2 schedule with a variety of popular music shows. (“Singer-songwriters” are much indulged.) So, three years after the revolution, how is Radio 2 doing?

The organization that collects audience statistics for radio is BBM Canada (formerly known as the Bureau of Broadcast Measurements). On their website, I found some interesting stats, broken down by various Canadian cities. If we compare statistics for the spring of 2007, when programming was still largely classical, with numbers for spring 2011, here’s what we find for Radio 2. (The following statistics are for the only five Canadian cities for which BBM Canada provides a detailed analysis in both 2007 and 2011.)
  • Toronto: down from 1.8 percent to 1.3 percent
  • Montreal: down from 3.5 percent to 2.5 percent
  • Calgary: down from 2.2 percent to 2.0 percent
  • Edmonton: down from 5.3 percent to 2.3 percent
  • Vancouver: down from 6.5 percent to 3.5 percent
Based on these statistics, it doesn’t seem that Radio 2 has increased, or even maintained, its former share of listeners anywhere. So much for building new audiences – although the CBC certainly did a fine job of alienating its old audience!

I’d wish the CBC a happy birthday – but I don’t think classical music lovers in Canada have a lot to celebrate, where Radio 2 is concerned, these days.

© Colin Eatock 2011
23 Comments
Bill Rankin
9/5/2011 04:58:38 am

I'm one of those numerous Edmonton listeners who doesn't wake up to singer-songwriters. Weather reports are more uplifting. Thanks for the item. Not really surprising, though.

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Doug MacNaughton
9/5/2011 05:30:09 am

A statistic I would love to find - are there hour by hour measurements of listenership? I'd be very interested to find out if 'Tempo' and 'Shift', the two remaining classical music shows on weekdays. If their listenership were not as far down as the rest of the day, that might be a message.

Not that I think that the current CBC management is listening to messages...

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Howard Dyck
9/5/2011 10:33:06 am

Thanks for confirming what many of us suspected anyway. I clearly remember Mark Steinmetz (who must shoulder a good share of the blame for Radio 2's disaster) telling me in 2007 that it would take 3 years for the "new" audience to materialize. I told him that would never happen, and of course it didn't. I keep thinking that this could only happen in a publicly-funded corporation where nobody is really accountable. Can you imagine insulting your clients this way in a privately-owned business? Heads would roll. Thank God there's BBC3!

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Zinnia Kristensen
9/5/2011 10:46:05 am

It's sad the amount of money and time wasted on turning Radio 2 into a mediocre mess. All this to get more listeners and they've failed abysmally. I now listen to ABC Classic Australia, and rarely turn on Radio 2.

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Lorna Jackson
9/5/2011 10:47:54 am

Taking the major newscasts -- World Report, The World at Six , and so on off Radio 2 was part of the stupidity. Radio 2 listeners were well educated and well travelled. What bonehead thought depriving them of news and analysis was a good idea? Oh, wait. None of the ideas for Radio Two was good.

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Ryan Scott link
9/6/2011 03:03:56 am

Thanks Colin for posting these stats. I had always suspected that CBC2's listenership would drop after the alienation of their core listener demographic but had never seen the actual numbers. I have heard that soon there will be no classical music on their airwaves, one can only wonder what senior management thinks that will accomplish. Our petition from 2005 (Stop the Commercialization of the CBC) is still accessible online and I imagine all the many thoughtful comments recorded are as fresh today as they were then. However when that petition hit 2000, it was presented to senior management at the CBC by the new music community and was hastily dismissed.

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Paul Steenhuisen
9/6/2011 06:48:00 am

Thank you for your thoughts Colin. It's sad but true. I wish them a positive and strong recovery. As our music is broadcast on other radio internationally, many of us retain the view that public broadcasting should reflect the creativity of its people, rather than impose an artistic direction.

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Philip Elliott
9/6/2011 08:00:26 am

Nice to see this article and ESPECIALLY NICE to see some former CBC R2 veterans comment.

For baving celebrated a major milestone at 75 years, since the format change 3 years ago, I have not gone back to R2 and now have sights elsewhere thanks to technology.

One would assume that if the #'s are right, this would CLEARLY send a message that th new format WAS NOT welcome. Typical 'my way or the highway' attitude.

How bittersweet that at 75 years of age, we could have a network to be proud of instead of something truly mediocre.

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Matthew Zadow
9/6/2011 09:12:08 am

It's really interesting to see some real numbers, to help us understand how little this delusional period of uninformed and ideology-driven cutting of the cbc has produced. As an opera singer from a small town, who came to the art form later in my life than some, I still remember working long weekend shifts, and leaving the van door open as I spurred my way up a hydro pole, just so that I could hear Howard and Stuart's voices as they helped explain what I was about to hear from the Metropolitan in New York, or better yet, from some European house... Now I make my career in europe, but my sensitivities are there in large part because of radio two. Thank you, all you aesthetes on the old radio two! You made us feel something real... If only someone with the power to restore you would listen, and act...

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Paul
9/7/2011 08:13:03 pm

I'd like to thank the CBC for encouraging me to find other means to listen to publically funded all-classical music radio from all over the world. It's a travesty to not have it in my own backyard.

PS "Shift" is not a classical music program. It is a waste of Tom Allen's talents and time.

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Elaine Calder
9/9/2011 02:39:53 am

Colin, thanks for confirming that what so many of us predicted would happen has in fact come about.

On a personal note, when we lived in Connecticut from 1999 to 2001 and drove back to Canada we used to tune in to Radio 2 as we approached the border, excited to hear intelligent commentary and uninterrupted classical music again. Now we live in Oregon we still drive back to Canada regularly but we no longer bother tuning in.....

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Pascal-Denis Lussier
9/9/2011 10:01:13 am

Although the numbers provided by Mr. Eatock confirmed what I also believed, I couldn't be satisfied with such a small sample, so I decided to look at more numbers, which are tallied here:

http://downmystreetandupyours.org/cbc-radio-2-three-years-later-a-bigger-picture/

Thanks

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Paul Williams
11/24/2011 01:19:47 am

The best program now is Nightstream. It starts at midnight and there's no announcer at all. You get an eclectic mix of contemporary and then classical music. They'll likely cancel it soon.

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Bob Oxley
2/11/2012 02:38:20 am

As I move into old age I despair less about the CBC, oops, that should be "care less" about the CBC. I have come to the bold conclusion that the minority DESERVE an on air radio channel that programmes classical music/jazz in an acceptable manner, as when voices like Lorna's and Howard's were heard in this land. Those involved in this service, from top to bottom, should only bring up the matter of ratings on pain of death, unless it could be shown that there was not one citizen listening. As long as there were one and the programming was well done, that would be enough enough. Radio 2 is now, for the most part, a national shame.

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Richard James Boivin link
12/30/2012 01:33:04 pm

I always always ask myself why and why did CBC did a hatchet job, I for one loved every aspect of the original shows on CBC Radio 2 Classical, not to mention the online section is very complicated (NO pop up window for when ) now I go to BBC 3 or ABC Radio Classical (Australia), so much for advancement, three steps backward !

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Jim Cowan
3/18/2013 07:51:18 am

Seems to me that the problem with Canada is most often upper level management. Out of touch and without any talent of their own they seem, almost universally, to completely under- rate and undervalue their employees and completely misjudge their public.
Does the CBC ever actually listen to their own Terry O'Reilly ? They should !


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Katrina
6/5/2013 02:16:41 am

I'm a bigger fan of Radio 2 now that it's made room for more singer-songwriter shows. Although I enjoy classical music, the songs they now play during the Morning show and Drive are by far my choice of programming. They celebrate Canadian music and provide uplifting playlists to drive to and from work too. My only complaint is that they don't have more shows like these on the radio! Myself and many people I know are part of the "new" demographic that this channel now attracts. I much prefer the softer sound of Morning and Drive to the newer "Live 105.1" station created for modern rock listeners. Radio 2 has remained my favorite station for years because of these shows alone.

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Jurgen Goethe's cat
7/18/2014 01:54:37 am

Given how inconsequential the above outrage is to the format change on Radio 2 or the lives of Canadians as a whole, I suspect it wouldn't matter if you were impersonating the ghost of Lister Sinclair, Alan Maitland or Clyde Gilmour, Radio 2 has become a much more diverse radio music service since the format change. It now represents a greater number of Canadians who have many years of life (and support for the network) ahead of them. It would be fabulous to have the CRTC grant the CBC the FM bandwidth to float both a classical music service and the current Radio 2, but we all know that that's an impossibility. Try thinking outside of your own narrowcast need for a single genre based service and support what's left of the music service on our national network. Thanks.

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Jurgen Goethe's other cat
7/18/2014 10:24:03 am

Horsefeathers. CBC Radio Two was already a diverse and eclectic service before the hatchet job, and with a committed and loyal audience that would have remained so well into the future had the boneheads at the top not eviscerated virtually everything of substance in the programming lineup. And whoever got the idea that recruitment of new listeners was not possible with the previous high-quality format? I am sick of hearing the old saw about the so-called 'aging audience' being the justification for destroying the integrity and excellence of the station. I have news for you, folks - ALL audiences age, and the transient ephemera that now occupies the airwaves for the (largely nonexistent) target demographic it is designed to attract will be even less appealing as their musical tastes mature. I am now in early middle age, but I was not *born* 50, nor was I in that age bracket when I discovered and grew to appreciate the enduring value of the music presented on CBC Stereo / Radio 2. Furthermore, once I recognized its quality and substance, I STAYED with it for decades. I doubt I am unique in that regard. It saddens me that shortsighted idiots have now removed from our national airwaves the possibility for discovery of great music of MANY genres presented by knowledgeable, insightful, engaging Canadian commentators, and replaced it with the self-indulgent bleating and transient mediocrity that masquerades as contemporary Canadian talent.
And the outrage articulated above was WELL PLACED and WELL ARTICULATED. If it has been 'inconsequential', it is not due to flawed arguments; it is rather due to the completely irresponsible and arrogant response of pathologically obtuse CBC brass. They are not publicly accountable, and by their egregious abuse of public trust, they are therefore essentially unfettered in their now ill-concealed crusade to destroy our national broadcaster to serve their current political handlers. As a political strategy, this Harper campaign to destroy Canadian public broadcasting has been brilliant, but as an act of public policy, it is one of the most irresponsible and reprehensible abuses of power in Canadian history.
I may be hopelessly optimistic, but I hold out hope that the recent unconscionable transgressions against the CBC by the Harpies will result in enough of a public backlash to make rebuilding the CBC a significant election issue, and add to the already copious list of reasons why the current government should undergo a complete political annihilation in 2015.

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GB
3/27/2015 06:23:47 am

I started listening to CBC radio at around age 25, nearly forty years ago. It was on whenever I was at home or in the car. My entire family became fans. Whenever I considered working abroad I would worry - what about CBC? I have tried, without success, to accept the changes. I have finally given up on it and am turning to alternatives. The main irritants, for me, are: reliance on playlists and the resulting repetition, the lack of depth in programming and hosts commentary and the egregiously annoying promos every hour. Does anyone responsible for this programming actually listen to it?

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David T Brown
3/27/2015 12:00:32 pm

GB, I could not agree more. I actually did work abroad for many years (and continue to do so), and one of the things I missed most was CBC Radio. I can scarcely count the number of times I would brag about the marvellous high quality mix of music, commentary, news and features that constituted our national broadcaster, which was so conspicuously absenexist m the airwaves of just about every place I lived or visited. I have less to brag about these days; CBC Radio 2 is now a pathetic travesty, and the remainder of the network is now under siege. I still live in hope that some of the more egregious damage might be reversed if (no, when!!) a new government takes power, but I fear most of the damage is irreversible. BBC Radio online provides some solace, but the excellence that was CBC is probably gone forever - for no good reason at all.
By the way, the second of the two posts attributed to 'Jurgen Goethe's Other Cat' was actually mine (David T. Brown), but was incorrectly referenced for some reason. I'd be curious to know if the actual pseudonymous author of the first of the comments is still enamoured with the Radio 2 mix, which is so unlistenable to me it has effectively ceased to exist.

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jim cowan
3/27/2015 08:01:20 pm

I came to Canada in 63 from Scotland and for a considerable amount of time wished I hadn't. Vancouver was about as exciting as watching paint dry as far as the city was concerned and of course I knew so few people. But there was the CBC. Over the years the remarkable voices of the CBC introduced me to events from coast to coast. Classical music programmes were first class.I got to know the politics of the country and the politicians. I could feel myself becoming Canadian. Fast- forward to the present and to this disaster of a leader (I use the term loosely ) . His policies of divide and fool and his fear of the National Broadcaster coupled with his Boy's Own Club attitude to world affairs is rendering the country I came to love completely unrecognizable.

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David T Brown
3/27/2015 09:29:50 pm

James Wooten's recent overview (January 2015) confirms what we already knew: that the 'makeover' of CBC Radio 2 has been an unmitigated disaster. See details here:

http://cbcradiotwoandme.blogspot.com/2015/01/the-latest-survey-of-cbc-radio-2-market.html?m=1

Reply



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    Eatock Daily

    I'm a composer based in Toronto – and this is my classical music blog, Eatock Daily.

    When I first started blogging, Eatock Daily was a place to re-post the articles I wrote for Toronto’s Globe and Mail and National Post newspapers, the Houston Chronicle, the Kansas City Star and other publications.

    But now I have stepped back from professional music journalism, and I'm spending more time composing.

    These days, my blog posts are infrequent, and are mostly concerned with my own music. However, I do still occasionally post comments on musical topics, including works I've discovered, enjoyed, and wish to share with others.


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