by skyvalleyradio » Tue Oct 14, 2014 11:56 am
TS - good explanation of the CANCON complexities at CJVB. As you've illustrated, CANCON is a compliance nightmare at ethnic/multi-cultural & campus/community stations. As a weeknight board op/show producer & weekend on-air DJ, I got the dreaded 'Beav Patrol' hour Sundays 11 to midnight after the religious shows. It's real purpose was to fatten up the CANCON so Rudy could host a classical show & Mr JVB Dutch easy-listening/gospel tunes & remain compliant. However, in the early 70's there were 12" reels with nothing but CANCON. It was all pretty much the CTL crapola found in the LP library. With 3 reel decks in use on-air, I always kept the CANCON reel cued & ready to go. I too got creative & culled from my own music collection & even did some borrowing from a few family members. One family member had some Maritimes/Newfoundland "old-timey" folk & traditional LPs. Not my personal thing, but this fit in better with the "Cosmopolitan Sound" music & audience. I brought in Gordon Lightfoot, & played ballads by Neil Young, Ronnie Hawkins, Joni Mitchell; jazz by Moe Koffman, Jeremy Steig, cheated a bit with Buffalo Springfield & Blood, Sweat & Tears. Ever the badass, I truly pushed the envelope by playing The Band's tale of Acadian migration from the Maritimes to Louisiana "Acadian Driftwood" & Richard Manual's beautiful ballad "It Makes No Difference" plus Motown 3-hit wonders Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers. For an intro theme song I used an instrumental from Neil Young's 1st solo album: a gently lilting, country-flavoured tune "Emperor of Wyoming" (with a lush string section expertly produced by Jack Nitzche). It took some effort to keep this hour from being simply "filler" which it ultimately was!
Mike Cleaver has it right 100%. I'll reiterate again that I see CANCON as merely a licensing & punishment tool within our country's overbloated broadcasting laws & regulations, overseen by the self-preservation motives of the CRTC dictators. Get rid of CANCON. Get rid of forced contributions to the music industry by Canadian broadcasters & level the playing field to succeed in spite of poor economic factors. The CBC should be 100% CANCON all the time...they are our national taxpayer-supported broadcaster & should be given this mandate on all of their services - on-air & online