Among CBC executives concerned primarily or entirely with music have been Louis Applebaum, John Barnes, Jean-Marie Beaudet, Jacques Bertrand, Hugh Davidson, Ira Dilworth, J.-J. Gagnier, Karen Kieser, Armand Landry, Denis Regnaud, John P.L. Roberts, Roy Royal, Robert Sunter, Jean Vallerand, and Geoffrey Waddington.
Prominent CBC broadcast producers have been John Adaskin, Jeffrey Anderson, Pierre Beaudet, Norma Beecroft, Françoys Bernier, Jacques Boucher, Pierre Boutet, Norman Campbell, Albert Chamberland, Gabriel Charpentier, Robert Chesterman, Paul-Émile Corbeil, Paul Crawford, Georges Dufresne, Terence Gibbs, Srul Irving Glick, Denis Harbour, Gary J. Hayes, Benjamin Horch, Margaret Ann Ireland, David Jaeger, Franz Kraemer, Larry Lake, Gérard Lamarche, Jean-Yves Landry, Carl Little, Keith MacMillan, Pierre Mercure, Pierre Morin, Pat Patterson, R.-O. Pelletier, Eudore Piché, Gilles Potvin, John Reeves, Paul Roussel, Peter Symcox, and Robert Turner; the list contains a number of composers and performers.
Other notable CBC music producers have been Norbert Bauman, Jean Bissonnette, Jacques Blouin, Diana Brown, Fred H. Brown, Lorraine Chalifoux, André Clerk, Jean-Yves Contant, Richard Coulter, Drew Crossan, Ken Dalziel, Roger Daveluy, Morris C. Davis, Anne Dubois, Ian Fellows, Patricia FitzGerald, Jane Forner, Maureen Frawley, Denys Gagnon, Claude Garneau, Noël Gauvin, Johanne Goyette, Marcel Henry, Keith Horner, Don Hudson, John Kannawin, James Kent, Don Kowalchuk, Marcel Laplante, Brigitte Lavoie, Berthe Lavoie-Fortin, Christiane LeBlanc, Norman Lucas, Fraser Macdonald, Odile Magnan, Guy Mauffette, Duncan McKerchar, Ernest Morgan, Jean Morin, Norman Newton, Huguette and Pauline Paré, Michèle Patry, Digby Peers, Armand Plante, Gilles Poirier, Mario Prizek, Pierre Rainville, Guy Rajotte, Harold Redekopp, Claude Routhier, Peter Shaw, Pauline Sincennes, Tom Taylor, Oleg Telizyn, Lucien Thériault, Alan Thompson, Daniel Vachon, Michèle Vaudry, and Frances Wainwright. Involved in CBC recordings (including the Radio Canada International series) have been Gérard Arthur, Edward Farrant, George Fiala, Mark Goldman, Monique Grenier (see Hélène Grenier), Dirk Keetbaas, Anton Kwiatkowski, Gérard Poupart, and several of the aforementioned producers.
The CBC's numerous and considerable music and record libraries and program archives are mentioned in EMC's entries on Libraries and Archives. Among the librarians have been Perry W. Teale and Caroline Grant in Halifax; Michelle Bachand, Marie Bourbeau, Claude Gagnon, André R. Martin, Térèse Rochette, and Conrad Sabourin in Montreal; Sabourin and Jeannette Trépanier in Ottawa; Helmut Kallmann, Pat Kellogg, Edgar Knapp, John Lawrence, and Erland Misener in Toronto; Laurie E. Thompson and Mary Worobec in Winnipeg; and Ruth Levy and Judy Knox in Vancouver.
The CBC was created as a crown corporation, ie, subsidized by the federal government. Since the 1991 Broadcasting Act, the CBC has been required to report to Parliament annually through the minister of Canadian Heritage and to maintain a government-appointed board of directors. While the CBC remains independent in its operation, its primary function, as decreed in the Broadcasting Act, is to provide a public service that will "safeguard, enrich and strengthen the cultural, political, social and economic fabric of Canada." The CBC has struck a compromise between the US and Canadian free-enterprise broadcasting systems, in which size of audience and profits dictate program policy, and the public ownership system common in Europe, where quality and variety of programming is the prime consideration. The sale of advertising air space has become a substantial source of revenue for the CBC.
The corporation's varied role in Canada's musical landscape has, of course, changed over the years. In the 1970s and 1980s the emphasis shifted from studio broadcasts to the carrying of public performances - Toronto Symphony Orchestra, Montreal Symphony Orchestra and other orchestral concerts, live CBC-organized or independent festivals, recitals, etc. Other significant trends that have had an impact on the CBC's operations include advancements in broadcasting technology, the increasing diversity of Canada's population, and dwindling government funding. The changes to the CBC's programming since the 1980s as a result of these trends have often been met with fierce opposition. In the mid-1980s, the federal government began making substantial cuts to the CBC's budget, which led to the amalgamation of radio departments, staff cuts, and, in the 1990s, a significant decrease in regional programming in favour of national broadcasts. Further changes to programming began in about 2000, when the CBC became increasingly invested in the promotion of popular music through initiatives such as CBC Radio 3, a youth-oriented, virtual network that promotes independent Canadian artists through audio, video and social networking. In keeping with its changing mandate, in 2008 the CBC began making cuts to its classical music programming on CBC Radio 2. This decrease was partnered with the disbandment of the 70-year-old CBC Radio Orchestra in 2008.
The CBC's importance in the cultural and social fabric of Canada is incalculable, whether the network is engaged in the quick dissemination of news across the world's second-largest country, connecting musical communities in rural and urban locations, creating and supporting the employment of musicians, or commissioning and providing exposure to Canadian compositions. It is no surprise that throughout EMC's biographies no other organization is acknowledged as often as the CBC, whether as a performance medium, an employer, a sponsor, or a discoverer of talent. No other single organization has played so large a role in making Canadians and the outside world aware of Canadian cultural pursuits and in helping these to flourish.
Since launching into the digital age in the mid-1990s, the CBC's services have grown to include three channels of commercial-free radio (CBC Radio One, 2, and 3); television, Internet, and satellite-based services; broadcasting in English, French, and eight Aboriginal languages; as well as broadcasts in seven languages on its worldwide network, Radio Canada International (RCI). The CBC has remained the country's primary purveyor of Canadian music and performance.
Bibliography
See also Bibliography for Broadcasting.
Waddington, Geoffrey. "Music and Radio," Music in Canada, ed Ernest MacMillan (Toronto 1955)
Roberts, John. "CBC and the Canadian composer," Canadian Composer, 1, May 1965
- "CBC Centennial commissions investment in musical future," Canadian Composer, 19, Jun 1967
- "Music in Canadian broadcasting - yesterday and today," Music and Media, Canadian Music Council conference (1967)
"Communications Media," Aspects of Music in Canada, ed Arnold Walter (Toronto 1969)
'"Music and television... an interview with John Barnes," Performing Arts in Canada, Winter 1972
Litwack, Linda. "Music and the CBC/SRC/RCI," The Canada Music Book, 10, Spring-Summer 1975
Roberts, John."What the CBC does for Canadian orchestras," Orchestra Canada, vol 3, Jul 1976
CBC Public Relations. CBC: A Brief History of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (Ottawa 1976)/ Radio-Canada: Un bref historique de la Société Radio-Canada (Ottawa 1977)
MacMillan, Rick. "Composers find additional roles in CBC," The Music Scene, 306, Mar-Apr 1979
Voici Radio-Canada, 1936-1986, brochure with 6 cassettes (Toronto 1986)
Kellogg, Patricia. "Sounds in the wilderness: Fifty years of CBC commissions," Musical Canada: Words and Music honouring Helmut Kallman, eds John Beckwith and Frederick A. Hall (Toronto 1988)
Atherton, Tony. "CBC: Gearing up for a redesign," Ottawa Citizen, 2 Jul 1990
Knelman, Martin. "Composer decries CBC Radio's lack of CanCon," Toronto Star, 10 Dec 2000
Lake, Larry. "Broadcasting our own," Musicanada 2000: A Celebration of Canadian Composers, ed S. Timothy Maloney (Montreal 2001)
L'Ecuyer, Sylvia. "La radio francophone et la diffusion de la musique actuelle," Musicanada 2000: A Celebration of Canadian Composers, ed S. Timothy Maloney (Montreal 2001)
Demara, Bruce. "CBC courting younger ears with changes: More Cancon, jazz and indie may not make up for other programming cuts, one critic says," Toronto Star, 19 Mar 2007
Terauds, John. "CBC Radio 2 devotees face classic conundrum; Listeners decry cuts and disbanding of orchestra," Toronto Star, 6 Apr 2008
Author Revised: Jennifer Higgs and Sarah Church
Links to Other Sites
CBC Shop
Search this online catalogue for CBC recordings and other multimedia.
Canadian Television Programming In English
A historical overview of Canadian television production and broadcasting. Focuses on news, current affairs, drama, comedy, children’s shows, sports, and more. Includes some comparisons with the US television industry. From the Museum of Broadcasting Communications in Chicago.
CBC: Norman Campbell
Norman Campbell reminisces about his prolific career in music and television in this 1982 audio clip from CBC Radio's "Variety Tonight."
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
Tune into the CBC website, the multimedia gateway to the network's radio and television programming from every region of Canada. Features extensive online news summaries and in-depth reports.
Broadcaster
Search the extensive archives for news stories about prominent personalities and companies in the Canadian broadcasting industry.
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