CBC Fangirl
I grew up listening to CBC. At the time, I did not see this as A Good Thing: it left me out of touch with a lot of the pop culture of the day.
Like my friend Simone’s birthday party in the third grade, when her parents popped a movie in the VCR. The opening dragged on forever, while some guy sang and danced with, like, werewolves or something. When the opening credits finally started to roll, Simone’s mom walked up and snapped off the TV. She must have been as bored and confused as I was. And there were no protests: apparently nobody else was all that interested in sitting through the rest of the movie either.
Then one day in grade 4 or 5, everyone in school was talking about this guy named “Michael Jackson”, who had accidentally set his hair on fire. With a Pepsi. It was all terribly confusing.
One day, my girlfriend Jasmine sat me down one day for Remedial Music Appreciation. She used photo-flashcards to grill me on the names of people who all seemed to have the same gel-infused bed-head. I had to identify sound clips of Twisted Sister and Cindy Lauper. It all seemed a lot of trouble for something all the other kids considered “entertainment”.
Of course, if all the other kids were jumping off a cliff, would I have joined them? Yeah, probably. It was an age where I valued my friends more than Cross Country Checkup. (Mind you, I still value pretty much anything over Cross Country Checkup: I may be a CBC Fangirl, but I’d still rather suck out my eardrums with a ShopVac than listen to a phone-in show.)
Looking back, it perplexes me that I listen to CBC now – by choice. I think I tuned-in around the time I moved to Ottawa. Must be something in the water. And that was before CBC discovered social media.
Yeah, I know that other radio stations are doing it . And of course I follow Stuntman Stu. But that the stuffy old CBC does it, I think, makes them even cooler. I can tweet Alan Neal while he’s on the air. Terri Loretto gave me hands-down the funniest reply to an Oven Barbequed Chicken tweet. CBC, at least in Ottawa, at least on radio, is turning broadcast into a two way conversation that I just find really exciting.
And I know I’m not alone. I already knew Amy was my CBC soulmate, but the depths of her devotion became clear in a recent tweet:
So I think it’s time for the CBC Fangirls to RISE UP, and, I don’t know, get a blog button or something. Maybe go for coffee. Preferably with Adrian Harewood.
#swoon
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Ok, this makes me want to tune in and try again. Maybe I’ll try listening online while I work next time I need radio company. Any daytime program suggestions? Also, Peter Mansbridge’s wife helped me and Avery board an AC flight when he was a baby – very sweet and understanding person. And a big Canadian celebrity moment for me – at least I recognized him!
Avoid noon – that’s the Ontario Today phone in
. Other than that, I like listening to All In A Day on the way home, I think it starts at 3. Also the host, Alan Neal, tweets & interacts on twitter right through the show. Check out @cbcallinaday and @alannealottawa.
And two favourites that I almost never catch are The Debaters (comedy – two standup comedians in a mock debate), and The Age of Influence (formerly the Age of Persuasion), which is an excellent show about advertising, by a long-time ad exec. Ironic, given CBC doesn’t DO advertising. The latter is definitely available by podcast, not sure about The Debaters.
I’m assuming CBC is country music…. have to confess I grew up more as a Michael Jackson and Madonna kind of girl… but variety is the spice of life and what makes the world go around etc….
Deb
LOL. Nope – CBC is the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, basically the Canadian equivalent to the BBC. Do you have something like it in Australia? I seem to remember hearing documentaries that were jointly produced with the ABC, or something like that. Either way – talk radio. Not much music, even less pop.
Reminds me of an interview we did with Adrian Harewood when he was still on radio, where someone phoned just as we got out of the studio, and asked “is he as cute in person as he sounds on the radio”? I wonder who that could have been?
@Deborah – assuming you’re from the USA, I’d say the closest analogy to CBC is NPR. A better analogy is probably the BBC. CBC Radio 1 is mostly talk radio, Radio 2 ranges from classical and jazz to rock, folk and alternative.
LOL. I have NO IDEA what you’re talking about
. And incidentally, I’ve now met him. Got a ‘personal tour’ of the studios with Adrian and Lucy VanO 
.
Count me in. It’s ‘Ottawa Morning’ on the car radio on the way to work, and ‘All in a Day’ on the car radio on the way home from work. I ♥ Alan Neal.
Yep! Well, Ottawa Morning when we’re on time. I usually judge how late I am by where I am when the Voice for The Current comes on
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When I was a kid, my dad was the driver to all kid activities and CBC accompanied all drives. The music from ‘All In A Day’ is burned in my mind. I often thought it was “old” and “boring’ but in hindsight credit it with a lot of my interest in news and politics and I still like the show. I also love the Current.
Same here. Although it also meant that most of my understanding of Canadian politics came from listening to Air Farce on the way home from church on Sundays. “Hi! I’m Ed Broadbent!!”
When the kid was very small I listened to Ottawa morning in the house, now she usually tells me it’s too loud. I love Ottawa morning, though still getting used to the new host, and I love All in a Day. The Debaters is the reason people stare at me when I’m driving and laughing so hard I’m crying. Spark is also one of my favourites when I catch it, but the best thing about CBC is that I can have it on in the car almost any time and learn something or hear something interesting.
Of course, I totally forgot about Spark! That’s another one where I always mean to listen to all the podcasts in the car, but as you say, you turn on the radio and there’s bound to be something interesting, so I never get to the saved stuff.
I grew up in an all-CBC-all-the-time-household too, and then listenend a LOT until the kids came along. I found I couldn’t listen to talk radio and be an effective parent, especially since one of my girls is a chatterbox who never ever stops talking, ever – it was too exhausting to listen to both at the same time. And once I stopped driving to and from work, Ottawa Morning and All in a Day also became rare events for me, sadly. I still love everyone on the air and listen when I can. I must say I have a total girl crush on Kathleen Petty.
And P.S. Did I ever tell you how it was a CBC radio personality who got me started in blogging??
NO! Who? How? Have you blogged about that already? You should! One of the things that eventually brought me to blogging was listening to Dani being interviewed on CBC; All In A Day, I think.
Count me in as one of the fangirls. My dream job would be to work at CBC radio, in just about any capacity. I’ve been interviewed twice on All in a Day and both times it was a HUGE thrill. I picked up a wee little CBC pin at WestFest this year and it’s already my most treasured accessory. CBC forevah!
No WAY!!! That’s cool. Who was hosting at the time?
So obviously you’ve been through the studio on Sparks Street. Doesn’t your blood flow a little faster just walking through there? Makes me contemplate a career change every time. Then I have to remind myself that I’m actually NOT that good in high pressure situations
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