Canada's voice on the airwaves

The CBC was born into a country dominated by American radio. Canada needed its own voice on the airwaves.

Graham Spry, considered the father of public broadcasting in Canada, described the need for a public broadcaster this way: "the state or the United States."

In CBC at 75: Turning Points in Public Broadcasting, Ideas producer David Cayley examines crucial episodes in the history of the CBC from its founding to the present. He deals with the corporation's earliest days, the golden age of radio, the CBC's fight for political independence, the origins of television, and the epic battle over the controversial 1960s CBC Television program This Hour Has Seven Days.

The five-part series begins airing on Monday, Oct. 1 as part of CBC's 75th anniversary programming. The rest of the episodes can be heard for the remainder of the week through to Nov. 4 on CBC Radio One.

The series features interviews with many of the people, including Spry himself, who were instrumental in shaping the CBC from its very beginnings to the present day.

Billed as a series prepared for people who just enjoy thinking, Ideas' mandate has changed little since its debut.

The 1965 premiere broadcast of Ideas (originally known as The Best Ideas You'll Hear Tonight) was on the CBC-FM network, amalgamating two former series titled University of the Air and The Learning Stage. The first three programs featured a discussion of Darwin's theory of evolution and an interview with members of the CBC Galapagos Expedition, a series called Peace on Earth, the music of Villa-Lobos and a talk by Earle Birney about poetry and creativity.

Back in 1965, the CBC Times announced that "full-attention programming is what CBC-FM radio offers its listeners. Ideas is a series prepared for people who just enjoy thinking."

CBC Radio's first documentary series, Ideas is also its most successful. Over 400,000 listeners tune in weeknights to hear hour-long documentaries covering everything from Socrates, to the concept of "the other", to clowns. Every year since its debut, Ideas hosts The Massey Lectures, where leading thinkers explore contemporary issues.

The program is eclectic in form and content. Ideas covers social issues, culture and the arts, geopolitics, history, science and technology, biology and the humanities. Most of Ideas broadcasts are documentaries in which thoughts are gathered, contexts explored and connections made.

Hosts have included Ken Haslam, Russ Germain, Lister Sinclair and Paul Kennedy.

Posted on Oct 31, 2011 11:57:53 AM