when i saw the faceless man in the photo wearing a bow-tie, i knew the zany J.J. must be the one behind this. i had the pleasure of chatting with him during an on-location broadcast earlier in the summer, and he is definately an inspiring character.

come noon, my radio will be tuned, i am THRILLED to hear what they've got to say.

to all those in power who have forced this situation: you are idiots. the cbc is PRICELESS. give them anything they ask for and don't look back. we need them.

570 AM KVI radio from Seattle is a FOX radio station. I suggest tuning into this station via internet or car radio. You will never want to listen to CBC again.

hey american why would any Canadian want to listen to a fox radio station in seattle, fox news was started by a republican upset because of what he perceived as free speech in the press and he wanted more control so he gathered up the like minded financiers and reporters to start up a major cheer leading squad of bush supporters!

Does anyone really know what the issue is? I have not heard any explanations for the differing viewpoints between manangement and union. Wages, benefits, outsourcing?

On a CBC ideas series about Karl Polanyi (not available on the site right now!), I learned that his wife,Ilona Duczynska who was an underground resistor during the 2nd world war in Vienna, would assemble a radio transmitter with fellow conspirators, using the offical radio stations wavelenth at noon. They would broadcast news to the workers, then quickly disassemble their transmitter and scatter.

These airwaves and other lines of communication are very important.

Yeah CBC staff!

Ursus; yes you explained FOX correctly. Please give us a desription of Air America or moveon.org.

back on the job eh ronny, I think I really hit the nail on the head with my description of you!

You don't need an ipod to listen, if you have a computer you can download http://www.apple.com/itunes/

itunes- for mac or pc.

and ...
Hey you silly Left/Right Punch and Judy puppets give it a rest ok?

Ah - but in living in the rural North where CBC is your lifeline and techno gismos aren't as common, I won't be able to appreciate the creative collective that makes up CBC. I just hope that additional energy goes into resolving whatever the issues are because the country radio station is numbing my brain...

Now that is cool!

I would like to point out that you can listen to CJSF FM 90.1 anywhere in the lower mainland. Just tune in at 8:00am to hear the broadcast. Also it will be straming on the web at the same time cjsf.ca

I'm a longtime CBC Radio fan. In this situation one should expect nothing but innovation from CBC's workers.

After closing down the CBC National News Internet message boards, just prior to the last federal election - I'm sure under great pressure from the federal Liberal government - the CBC has been well and truly shat upon.

I hope the situation is soon resolved. Though I remain greatly disappointed that so many in this information business knuckled under in the attack on free speech that the closing of those message boards represented.

I've always wondered what the CBC did, other than deliver culture to the far north, and have never figured it out. CBC newsworld is an utter waste of money and CBC tv seems to be a carrier for comedy re-runs and Saturday night hockey . It should be shelved along with the Senate.

netscaper2; I am surpised that you don't know what the CBC does. They are a propaganda arm for The Liberal Party of Canada. They are also responsible for demonizing The Consevative Party of Canada. They don't like these guy's because they would probably terminate the service.

the conservatives don't need the CBC to point out the obvous they have harper, hell even Crosbie is critisizing the guy.

Hell, I don't like the Conservatives because they would probably wipe out the service. It always amazes me that the so-called champions of free speech (Republicans, Conservatives, etc.) can't stand a little criticism. Their ploy is to buy all the private media, demonize public media (or get it shut down due to such reasons as "economic inefficiency"), and leave the public with right wing propaganda in pablum form as the only media offerings available.

CBC TV may be a shoddy clone of most other television (remember Steve Allen's description of TV: it's called a medium because it's neither rare nor well done), but CBC Radio is (or should be) a source of national pride because of its diversity, tolerance of a variety of viewpoints, and a willingness to investigate beyond the sound-bite. "As It Happens" and "Ideas" are seminal shows that make commercial radio a shallow mess by comparison.

When political parties start going after the CBC it's usually time to distance oneself from those same parties.

Wish the writer had drawn parallels between CBC Unplugged and the Vancouver Express, the strike newspaper that the Vancouver Sun/Province unions put out for months at a time during the Pacific Press strikes of the 1970s. A labour dispute where the employees can simply pick up producing news where the company left off is a very unique beast.

Rick Cluff working toward union 'brotha'hood?

That'll be a gem for the archives.

My hope is that the CBC strike will tend to make the corporation's staff less friendly to the Liberal Government. In the 2004 election, CBC News acted as an arm of the Liberal Party, no where more than in BC, where the "star candidates" just had to be elected.

It continued into recent months, with CBC TV reporter Terry Milewski publicizing Dosanjh's version of his conversations with Grewal, and treating as news statements made about Grewal by so-called contributors, who were in fact Liberal political operatives under the control of the Dosanjh organization.

Thats some real ingenious thinking on the part of the CBC workers. Its way more constructive than simply picketing and I think it will get a lot of positive feedback from the public. I'll be waiting to download the MP3 tomorrow thats for sure.

And I'm shocked that the reactionaries (read Ron Erwin & co) are knocking the CBC after one of their numbers just became an MP in the BC Liberal (ie. Conservative Party of BC) government.

I don't know all the details about this labour dispute, but understand it is an issue over the number of staff as opposed to contract positions. Going out and starting your own broadcast with a BUNCH OF FREELANCERS advances the employees side here how?!?

Fox (s)nooze... When it just hurts too much to think.

If you want to see an explosive expose of Fox News (sic), go online and Google the documentary "Outfoxed". It is an unauthorized expose of the blatant disregard for journalistic ethics espoused by the organization, and chronicles how it is used as the communicatoins arm of the Republican party.

The proplem with folks who watch Fox News is, they tend to get so accustomed to being spoon-fed narrow-minded right wing rhetorical pablum, that when they finally see an example of objective journalism like the CBC, the only label they can put on it is 'liberal'.

"Them danged liberals always insist on showing more than one point of view, so that folks can make up their own minds. And we cain't have people thinkin' for themselves, or we'd have anarchy. Nope, it's just plain easier if folks fly the flag and salute without thinkin'. Them's that think too much start to ask questions, and you know where that leads. Anarchy."

While I have my own issues with the CBC, it provides a valuable counterpoint to the tidal wave of conservative rhetoric that is foisted on us by media monopolies like CanWest/Global (the editorial page editor of the Vancouver Sun is a former communications hack from the Fraser Institute; the editor of Macleans is the former editor of Alberta Report magazine and the neo-conservative National Post).

Under the direction of former CBC President (and current BC Liberal Finance Minister) Carole Taylor, the organization has begun to adopt the isolationist, anti-worker, corporate mantra of the private sector - insisting on keeping large portions of their workforce on short term contracts without any job security or benefits.

An organization is only as good as their employees, and when managers making obscene salaries and benefits begin treating the people who deliver the service with contempt - as with the CBC and Telus - the time has come to teach them a lesson in human dignity.

It has been said that a rising tide lifts all boats. In the new millennium, it seems, the rising economic tide raises only the largest, most expensive vessels, while the rest of us flounder, fighting each other for the scraps left behind. Am I the only one who's pissed at this?

The ultimate oxymoron: CBC workers.
"I've always wondered what the CBC did, other than deliver culture to the far north,". Sorry netscape, not any more. They all have satellite dishes, and they're watching American Idol and Paris Hilton.

Nemesis, I work in the media and have been alongside CBC reporters many times, I assure you they work plenty hard. In fact harder than most because they have the ability to compose and file stories from their vehicles instead of writing script and phoning in stuff.

You're right Jamez. The CBC reporters are quality people. My comment was directed towards the support workers. Have you ever spent any time in the CBC studios in Vancouver? Those guys make CUPE and the postal workers look like hard workers.

Good to see that nemesis is an equal opportunity hater!

Having worked for CUPE I find it hard to believe ANYONE can make them look like hard workers. ;-)

But no, I haven't seen the support workers.

Just listened to the podcast. I quite like the candour and the creativity. I could really get used to CBC Unplugged. But alas, these are folks with kids to be fed and mortgages to be paid.

I've written to my MLA...

Krispy; who you you think you are kidding, you have never viewed FOX cable news.
It's like reviewing a movie you never seen.

Ron Erwin

Hey Ron, I gotta say I've been watching fox news during this free preview on Bell... I honestly haven't been able to watch more than five minutes without being pissed off at their slanted reporting.

Hey c'mon! Faux News is good. Sometimes they even report these things called "facts". I am not too sure what they are, and beside I am to busy watching Pat Robertson on the Christian Broadcast Network for his call to kill Hugo Chavez. I mean we got to eliminate him. Gas is only pennies a litre for Venezuelans! That is very unpatriotic of them. So do what Jesus would do. Take him out.

M. Peignoir, your efforts are laudable, but please copy that letter and send it to your MP to raise in the House of Commons where pressure can be exerted.

Better still, copy it and send to your municiple government as well. The federal and municiple governments are far more sensitive to citizen-initiated issues than is the provincial government.

AARGH, I feel your pain, but some of us are stuck listening to plain ol' right-wing talk radio.

I'll take Hank's Cheatin' Heart over cheatin' talk anyday.

To: Ron Erwin (and friends)-

My educated guess is, you are a professional BC Liberal plant, with a mandate to stir up the Lefties and keep them off the real issues -- like health care, privatization, and the complete absence of meaningful environmental regulation.

My guess is, Ron, that you are on a legal/political retainer from the Premier's office, but time and a strategically placed FOI will tell. Perhaps Sean Holman will shed some light on this conundrum.

So, if you actually have anything meaningful to say about British Columbia and Canadian politics, my friend, we all await with baited breath...

Yes, I have something to meaningful to say about CANADIAN politics, it's way too liberal.

Asher; You have never watched any kind od Christiann television network, guarenteed. You are like Krispy mouthing off about something you have never actually seen.
Mean even I watched Farenheit 911 before I called it a piece of crap.

asher and allan - I like your style!
I sent an email to our prime minister (pm@pm.gc.ca) because I want our gov to put a little pressure on and get things moving. It wouldn't hurt to give the CBC some more dollars after all the squeezing of the past few years. And contracting out (which is an issue)- at its worst it means Canadian dollars go overseas, our people don't get income and the gov doesn't get taxes

I hate to give Ron any more press, because that's what he wants. If we just ignore him he might go away, but it is somewhat entertaining.

Ignore, ignore, ignore!

http://www.prwatch.org/
Pre packaged press releases from the white house distributed to the press to run as news? Can you say manipulate the public.

Thanks Allan. I actually meant to write 'MP.' And I agree with you. My MLA is probably quite sanguine about this whole lockout thing at the Mother Corp.

To pick up on Asher's point, it's interesting that the Home Secretary of the UK has decreed that country will deport "preachers of intolerance and hatred."

Oh that the US would commit to the same "G'bye Pat! Back you go to..." Hmmm, where does hypocritical Devil spawn come from?

Interesting about how all the strikes these days are about unions resisting the movement of technology, demographic and societal changes (see Telus, the not-a-monopoly-anymore company).

Face it, in journalism and entertainment, people work at many jobs on a contract basis. I bet that's how the Tyee survives also.

The days of lifelong employment with indexed pensions paid from the public purse aren't affordable to the taxpayer anymore. CBC is simply being responsible in managing the money it takes from us in taxes.

Shabby employment practices lead to shabby journalism and my recent audit of other programming shows we enough of that -- good God!

But while you're here Martin, as a CBC manager (and I'm presuming from your post that you are one), I have to say the only good thing to come out of this disaster is not having to listen to that insufferable Promo Girl shite several times a day. Now that was just strange.

It's not a strike - it's a lockout.

Rid the system of the Senate and the CBC.

another intelligent post with loads of reason and reasoned discussion, yeh right. Why do you want to get rid of the only relatively unbiased news source we have left, you actually prefer the talking heads who only give you their slant brainwashing the bovines.

ursus & the other great contributors to these blogs!
I'm just amazed that there are people out there like netscaper2 who actually believe the dribble or canned garbage on our airwaves CNN, FOX, etc from USA
Locally CTV, The Province & the Sun Paper all owned, operated & dictated to by Canwest or in reality CanAmerica.
Privatization, Contracting out, giving away Terasen, “read in local rag” now already natural gas & electricity will almost double this winter. (no I’m not a hypocrite, I read it in one of thoes vomit boxes)
Unless we as concerned citizens start mobilizing, our children will have no future, may God forgive us!
Now they want to make laws that will legalize internet snooping, reading our email, and shutting down any site promoting any kind of opposition.
CBC has already done this with their internet subscribers this is just the start?
A great new site is IWTnews.com worth checking out!
Thank You