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CBC Radio Program Development Group Pitch Guide

2012 / 2013 Season
Revised: October 2012

Table of Contents:

Here is an audio snapshot of the CBC Radio hits from the 2012 summer season:
Click here for more

   

 

What are we looking for?

New radio shows; limited run series; segments for ongoing programs. We’re also looking for potential – not only in ideas, but also in people. We want to find the writers, hosts and producers of tomorrow.

A few things to remember:

-CBC is committed to developing predominantly Canadian shows, and talent.

-CBC Radio receives hundreds of proposals every year and only a few are selected for development.

-Submissions are usually reviewed within three months.

- Your proposal doesn’t need to be long and complicated (2-3 pages maximum please), but it should be well thought out and tell us what we need to know to evaluate it.

- The deadline for submitting a pitch for a summer show is January 31, 2013. But the earlier you send us your pitch the better chance we have to work with you to develop it. So the sooner you pitch, the better for everyone involved.


The Idea

As your put your idea down on paper, here are some questions you should ask yourself:
  1. When you tell others about your idea, what seems to excite them the most? This is often a good way to start your pitch
  2. How would you describe your show’s attitude? Will it be light-hearted, serious, cheeky, respectful, entertaining, informative, probing or reflective? Is there anything new or different about how your show will sound? Be sure and tell us.
  3. Who is the host? Do you have someone in mind? If not, what qualities would your ideal host possess? What should they sound like? What’s his or her role in the show?
  4. What will we hear on a typical program?  A list of segment ideas or interview quests is a good start, but it is not enough. Help us imagine what we’ll hear coming out of the radio. What kinds of treatments can we expect?
  5. What is the online component?  What opportunities do you imagine for the web and social networking? Does it make sense for your concept to be expanded for multiple platforms? How will your show drive people to our website?
  6. What makes your show perfect for CBC rather than another broadcaster? Why should it air now? Does it take CBC Radio somewhere new? Does it do something that we aren’t already doing? Tell us how it fits our values as a public broadcaster (high quality, distinctive, Canadian programming that’s intelligent, insightful and entertaining, reflective of the diversity of Canada)?
  7. What format do you see your idea taking? Is it a onetime broadcast, a limited series, a feature within another show, a summer replacement series, a full run show? Is it a half hour or an hour?

The Checklist

Once you’ve worked through your idea, here’s a quick checklist of other things you should include in your proposal:

1. Who You Are: Tell us why you’re the best person to do this show. If you’ve hosted, produced or written for radio before, let us know. Also: what led you to your idea? Give us a sense of your background, your passions.

2. Who is Who: If you’ve got people you want to work with, tell us who they are. Who’s producing? Who’s hosting? Assume we don’t know these people. Give us an idea why they’re the best people for those roles.

3. The Proposal: Do the tone and style of the writing in your proposal reflect the tone of show that you’re proposing?

4. Reaching Out: Do you have plans for using social media or other tools to attract audiences to your site, beyond those who already come to CBC Radio or cbc.ca?

5. Support: What kind of support do you need? Mentoring? Coaching on your performance? In-studio training? Digital audio editing?

6. Online Support: Radio production teams are expected to maintain the websites for their shows. Do you or any of your team members have digital production experience? Does your idea require a resource with specialized / advanced web skills?

7. Timing: Is your proposal time-sensitive? Are there times when you can work on this, times when you cannot?

8. How to Get Hold of You: Don’t forget to include your e-mail, home phone, cell phone, etc.

 

To get your pitch to us

Upload your pitch online

We prefer to receive proposals as attachments in Microsoft Word format. Feel free to send short audio samples as well – in mp3 format please!

Top 10

Q: Do you have any other useful tips to help me brainstorm my idea?
A: Sure. Here’s a list of our top 10:


1. Read and follow the Pitch Guide.
2. Listen to other shows, CBC, NPR, BBC, ABC, Private Radio etc
3. Really ask yourself, what makes this show a GREAT Idea?
4. Be realistic about your team and what they can do. If you have some gaps, spell them out and propose solutions
5. Shoot for the moon.
6. Don’t be afraid to ask for help.
7. Ask for unbiased feedback and be open to it.
8. Ask someone you don’t know well to read it and to tell you what the show is about in a couple of lines.
9. Fall in love with your ideas, but don’t marry them just yet.
10. Read and follow the Pitch Guide.

Q & A

Q: What does success sound like? Give me examples of pitches that came to life as radio shows.
Answer:
[DISCLAIMER: Now remember, the bar for a successful pitch isn’t always a summer show. We can sometimes find a home for your idea or your talent elsewhere on the network.]
But here are links to favourite episodes from the hits of the 2012 summer season.

BABEL
Babel isn't your typical show about English. It's a conversation about our ever-evolving language in today's Canada, where old ideas collide with new realities. With one in five Canadians speaking English (and French) as a second language, host Mariel Borelli explores the impact of diversity, technology, and community on Canadian English. In this episode Babel looks at accents in the workplace.

FEAR ITSELF
Fear Itself explores the whys, wherefores and whathaveyous of fear - why we are afraid, why we are both drawn to and repulsed by fear, the healthy role it plays in human life, and its pathological manifestation. We are built with the flight or fight instinct but what triggers which part of it in each of us? Why does he run screaming, and she with pounding heart, stands to face the monster? This episode is about the fear of getting caught

METAMORPHOSIS
Metamorphosis tells the story of 10 men and women who undergo life altering experiences leading to profound, fundamental personal transformation. Each week, these renewed individuals take us on their journey of personal transformation: from breakdown to breakthrough. This episode is the story of a former neo-Nazi skinhead who viciously beat gays and blacks repents and dedicates his life to peace education and promoting tolerance. Arno Michaels started up Life After Hate as a way to make up for his violent past.

THE INVISIBLE HAND
Philosopher Adam Smith gets the cred for the title. He theorized that if people made choices with their own economic self-interests in mind, then a collective force would guide the marketplace to benefit the common good. This force...was like an invisible hand.
The Invisible Hand explores whether ideas like that--ones found in the pages of an Economic text book--can also be found at work in the real-life stories of the world today. This episode attempts to tally up the value, price and utility of two commodities. When the gold standard of economic backup plans goes up against one of the most fowl, it's a tough job to determine who'll come out on top.

THE WILD SIDE
The Wild Side is shares exciting, energizing, and engaging stories of life in Canada's great outdoors, as Canadians walk, run, hike, swim, kayak, climb, canoe, skydive, ski, snowshoe and skate across our country. The Wild Side captures regular Canadians engaged, enthralled, surviving (and maybe not so much) in every aspect of our abounding nature from coast to coast to coast; storytellers that are living it, off the grid, in the moment; raw, true stories of wild encounters and experiences from beyond the end of the blacktop.

Q: Can you give me an example of a show pitch that eventually got turned into a show?

A: Yes, here is the original pitch for the Invisible Hand. The show on air turned out to be different from the original pitch, but it was a great starting point.

Committee Members 2012-13:

Got questions? Need help getting your idea down on paper? Get in touch with a member of the Program Development Group:

Nicola Luksic, Co-chair
Toronto
(416) 205 5075
Nicola.Luksic@cbc.ca

Christina Harnett
Halifax
(902) 420-4193
Christina.Harnett@cbc.ca

Elaine Chau
Vancouver
(604) 662-6957
Elaine.Chau@cbc.ca

Kim Garritty
Quebec City
(418) 691-3614
Kim.Garritty@cbc.ca

Laura Brown
Toronto
(416) 205-5804
Laura.Brown@cbc.ca

Marie Clarke
Toronto
(416) 205-5099
Marie.Clarke@cbc.ca

Lisa Bryn Rundle
Toronto
(416).205-2185
Lisa.Rundle@cbc.ca

Peter Brown
Edmonton

Peter.Brown@cbc.ca

Dominic Girard
Toronto
(416) 205 5618
Dominic.Girard@cbc.ca

Angela Misri
Toronto
(416) 205-7510
Angela.Misri@cbc.ca

Rodney Millington
Toronto
(416) 205-6702
Rodney.Millington@cbc.ca

Ruth Zowdu
Ottawa
(613) 288-6472
Ruth.Zowdu@cbc.ca

Susan McKenzie
Montreal
(514) 597-4482
Susan.Mckenzie@cbc.ca