Canadian Broadcasting Corporation: Canadian Broadcasters Of Culture Analysis

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation – Canadian Broadcasters of Culture

The CBC is a publicly owned media outlet funded (in part) by taxpayers. The CBC was formed in the context of a very different historical moment than now. Given that the Canadian mediascape has changed, should the government continue to fund the CBC?

When the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) was created in 1936, it was intended as a public radio station to inform Canadians across the country and to provide them news and information both nationally and regionally. Since then, with the changing media-scape and the introduction of different forms of media, it has expanded into both the television and Internet realms. The CBC should remain as a publically funded media outlet as it is constantly adapting to the changing media-scape whilst still promoting and providing all Canadians with Canadian culture and news.

CBC Radio Canada, Canada’s first major public leap into the media world was established in
1936. It currently operates a completely federally funded, commercial free platform (O’Neill, 2006, p. 180). Playing a minimum of 35 percent Canadian content, as outlined in The Broadcasting Act of 1991, CBC Radio runs two on-air radio stations. These two stations; CBC Radio One and Radio Two, promote Canadian news, culture and music (O’Neill, 2006, p.184).
CBC Radio One, Canada’s leading on air destination for news features magazine-style news programming and some music. Broadcasting throughout three time zones across Canada and offering regional specific time slots, Radio One is built to ensure that both up to date local and national news and culture is available to all Canadians. (O’Neill, 2006, p.184)
CBC’s Radio Two was rebranded in 1997 into a more musically based programming schedule. Focusing on more classical music programming, it also touches on jazz, contemporary and world music (O’Neill, 2006, p. 186).
In the millennial year of 2000, CBC created the game changing online formatted station Radio Three. Radio Three was CBC’s reaction and adaptation to the constantly changing media-scape of radio, geared towards a younger audience in contrast to it’s One and Two counterparts that are geared towards an adult audience. Radio Three is intended to be less like radio and more reflective of Canadian music culture, hosting and displaying unsigned and newly established Canadian artists alike (O’Neill, 2006, p.188).
Although all three stations have different objectives and demographics, they all contribute to the Canadian culture and can be easily adapted to the ever-changing media-scape.

Debuting in 1952; CBC Television is CBC’s television network that is funded partially by the public, receiving only just over a quarter of the CBC’s total government funding with fifty percent of budget coming from ads (Foster, 2009, p. 66). CBC TV’s policy is to “contribute to shared national consciousness and identity” (Bociurkiw, 2008, p.49) which is accomplished by following the guidelines of The Broadcasting Act of 1991 mandating that public television broadcasters to air 60 percent Canadian content (O’Neill, 2006, p. 181). Ensuring this requirement CBC producing it’s own television shows and airing national and regional news and sports that both reflect and promote Canadian identity. Hockey broadcasting accounts for a substantial 40-60 percent of ad revenue and grows ratings for primetime with approximately 2 million viewers for Hockey Night in Canada, a commentary show featuring Canadian NHL games and players hosted primarily by celebrity and former NHL coach Don Cherry (Powell, 2010, p.1).
On January 9th 2007 CBC aired the pilot episode of a ground breaking new series Little Mosque on the Prairie (LMP). LMP addresses Muslim culture and the racial stereotypes that come with it in a satirical comedy. It is considered a giant leap in confronting and representing multiculturalism and the well-deserved right for other cultures to see themselves on primetime television (Eid & Khan, 2011, p. 185). The multicultural aspect of the television show also coincides with The Broadcasting Act of 1991 Section (1)(a)(iii), which states that “Canadian broadcasting systems must reflect equal rights, linguistic duality and multicultural nature of Canadian society” (Eid & Khan, 2011, p.186).
Lastly, CBC TV has proven that it can compete with the fast-changing nature of the media and the way it is produced in the case of it’s acceptance of reality television as a useful and new form of production.
In 2003, CBC created a ‘Current Affairs Redevelopment Group’ that would incorporate reality type ideas emphasizing that it would create a “better brand of reality television” (Foster, 2009, p.61). The network then continued to produce reality-type shows that also reflects Canadian ideals and culture. Two examples of this are Dragons Den; a reality show with contestants competing to have their product ideas patented and produced while being reviewed by a panel of judges, and Battle of the Blades; which brings both hockey players and figure skaters together to compete in figure skating competitions. Both of these new series in the reality genre embody both Canadian culture displaying economic and entrepreneurial talents and athletic talents
alike.

In 1995, CBC launched its new homepage CBC.ca in reaction to the new booming industry of the Internet. The year of 1998 marked the ‘New Media, New CBC’ campaign that the then president of CBC Perin Beatty outlined (O’Neill, 2006, p.183). Beatty stated that this new web campaign would be used as leverage for CBC’s position as the main source of Canadian audio-visual culture, promising Canadians that they would never be “relegated to a back corner of the web” (O’Neill, 2006, p.182). This plan also agrees with The Broadcasting Act of 1991 that requires “Canadian broadcast systems to be readily adaptable to scientific and technological change” (O’Neill, 2006, p.183). Since then, Canadian home Internet usage skyrocketed from a mere 16 percent in 1997 to 40 percent in the year 2000 (O’Neill, 2006, p.183).
The next three years shaped CBC.ca with the launch of Radio Three, the online radio station. With the rise of the online radio station, both on-air stations Radio One and Radio Two could be promoted with lists of schedules of radio shows and what would be featured on them (O’Neill, 2006, p.187). Next to follow on CBC.ca was in 2001, a SMS text service was created that would send out text messages about news headlines and various other music and television stories to people who had subscribed to the service online (O’Neill, 2006, p.183).
In 2003 interactive television and video platform was introduced. Visitors could access CBC Television episodes they had missed, watch video casts including news headlines that were backed with video clips, and schedules of programming on CBC Television (O’Neill, 2006, p.183).
CBC.ca’s most recent venture has been the support of legal music downloads and podcasts, putting it on the map as one of the first public broadcasters to develop a successful mode of delivering audio (O’Neill, 2006, p.183).
CBC.ca currently has over 750,000 pages online promoting content across the entire CBC brand and is rated as the third most popular Canadian web destination (O’Neill, 2006, p.184).

It is clear that the CBC is easily adaptable to the changing media-scape throughout the brand. With CBC Radio adapting to the introduction of the Internet, creating a web based station that later conformed to satellite radio, it is obvious that even the oldest medium of CBC can be updated and improved. With the production of Canadian television shows on CBC TV, Canadian television industry can be both promoted and updated with the inclusion of the new reality television genre allowing CBC to abide by the rules of The Broadcasting Act of 1991. In these efforts, CBC TV now shows an average of a staggering eighty-two percent Canadian produced content during it’s prime time hours (CBC.ca).
After the efforts of the radio and television, CBC.ca can not only promote the entire brand of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, but also stand on it’s own, providing and promoting various forms of Canadian culture and content.
Given the challenge of the ever-changing media-scape, CBC has proved that it can not only compete and conquer the new mediums, but also do it with exceptional efficiency and accuracy. This is why CBC should remain a publically funded corporation, delivering Canadians news, entertainment and pure Canadian culture.
References
Bociurkiw, Marusya. (2008). Whose Child am I? The Quebec Referendum and
Languages of Affect and the Body. In Zoe Druick & Aspa Kostopoulos (Eds.), Programming Reality: Perspectives on English-Canadian Television. Waterloo, ON: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.

Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. (2011). Corporate Reports & Submissions.
Retreived from http://cbc.radio-canada.ca/annualreports/index.shtml.

Conway, K. (2009). Public Service Broadcasting and the Failure of Political
Representation. Velvet Light Trap: A Critical Journal Of Film & Television, (64), 64-75.

Eid, M., & Khan, S. (2011). A New-Look for Muslim Women in the Canadian Media: CBC 's Little Mosque on the Prairie. Middle East Journal Of Culture &
Communication, 4(2), 184-202. doi:10.1163/187398611X571355

Foster, D. (2009). Chasing the Public: The CBC and the Debate Over Factual
Entertainment on Canadian Airwaves. Canadian Journal Of Communication, 34(1), 61-77.

O’Neill, B. (2006). Broadcast Sovereignty in a Digital Environment. The International
Journal of Research into New Media Technologies, 179-197.

Powell, C. (2010). RADIO-CANADA AND CBC. Marketing Magazine, 115(16), 29.