CBC to announce Radio 2 remake in pursuit of younger audience
Watchdog fuming over schedule change
Chris Cobb, The Ottawa Citizen
Published: Tuesday, August 19, 2008
OTTAWA - The CBC will announce a radical revamp of its Radio Two network
today
with the introduction of more popular and cross cultural music and a
de-emphasizing of classical content.
The Radio Two revamp, called "its most dramatic makeover ever" by CBC
English
services head Richard Stursberg, is prompted by what the publicly funded
broadcaster has said is a desire to attract younger listeners. A
re-branding,
backed by a national advertising campaign, will likely see Radio Two
referred
to simply as "Two" or "The New Two."
The focus during an invitation-only event at CBC's Toronto headquarters
today
is expected to be the network's new weekday and weekend shows and three
new
hosts -- jazz-pop singer Molly Johnson, Halifax hip-hop performer Richard
(Buck 65) Terfry and singer Julie Nesrallah.
The new schedule, to launch Sept. 2, will be controversial among many
loyal
Radio Two listeners who have already criticized the CBC for downgrading
classical content.
Ian Morrison, spokesman for the watchdog group Friends of Canadian
Broadcasting accused the CBC yesterday of planning to abandon a loyal
audience
of about one million Canadians and, in the process, "ghettoizing"
classical
music.
"It's good for CBC radio to be playing a variety of musical genres," he
said,
"but this is a radical change. It is moving away from something only the
public broadcaster can do to something many private broadcasters already
do.
And they are shoving classical music into the 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. low
audience
ghetto."
The Radio Two makeover is also a departure from CBC's mandate as defined
by
the Canadian Broadcasting Act, said Mr. Morrison.
"The Canadian public broadcaster has a responsibility to transmit world
classical culture to new generations of Canadians," he said. "They are
substantially moving away from that responsibility. They falsely assume
that
world classical culture is not something that can be marketed to appeal to
younger audiences."
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