I (Don't) Want My CBC!!!

About a year ago, Chicago's national public radio station WBEZ inexplicably swapped its locally produced international news show "The World" for an hour long taste of Canada's CBC. "The World" was relegated to the popular radio listening time of, oh, 2pm or so, while the latest headlines in Canada got prime placement at primetime, 7pm. The question I asked when this first happened: why? Why was Canadian news being broadcast in Chicago? Who the hell wants to tune in to the equivalent of some other city's nightly local news broadcast, only with all the detours - sports, weather, politics - absolutely useless?

The CBC broadcast is basically 70% the news of the day, which essentially means the same news I just heard on All Things Considered, but from a Canadian perspective. Big whoop. The remaining 30% comprises esoteric crap like logging laws and other things of interest exclusively to Canadians (if that). Needless to say, I turned off the radio when the CBC came on. I wrote the station a letter, complaining. Alma did, too. When the pledge drive came around, Alma decided not to donate.

Did we make a difference? Not by ourselves, but apparently enough people were miffed that "The World" is coming back! Now we can get all our thrilling news about Uganda, and Chad, and the Sudan, and Argentina and the rest of the gloriously dysfunctional globe, and less of these boring-ass pieces on Canadian zamboni minutiae.

Not that Canada isn't part of the world, mind. But it's certainly not a terribly interesting part.