CBC Radio One, Radio 2 juggle schedules
Schedule changes are coming for CBC Radio One and Radio 2, the public broadcaster announced Thursday.
On Radio One, the local noon programs move to a one-hour format from two hours on June 29 and the afternoon schedule will be filled with repeats and repackaged items.
On Radio 2, classical music will come on earlier in the day, and several other shows have been shifted. These changes are a "tweak" to the schedules designed to smooth the transition from classical to contemporary music and back again, according to Chris Boyce, CBC Radio programming director.
As of June 29, the changes to the Radio One schedule are:
- Local noon programs reduced to an hour.
- From 1 p.m. to 3 p.m., listeners will hear repeats of shows such as Writers and Company, Dispatches, The Next Chapter and Sirius program Rewind, which features selections from the CBC Archives.
- The afternoons will also include a selection of listener stories from DNTO and shows that pull together CBC documentaries from the regions and other programs.
The local noon-hour shows will still have a call-in component and a selection of current affairs programming on local issues, but be shorter, Boyce said.
"We are just looking region-by-region at exactly what those shows are going to be, but they won't be dissimilar to what people are used to hearing now," he said. "For us, it's important that those shows are an opportunity for listeners to reconnect to what's happening in their communities on that day."
Boyce acknowledged that CBC has found "significant savings" with cuts in this part of the schedule and repeats of shows.
"Clearly a big part of the [programming cuts] was in the afternoon schedule — moving the noon shows to one hour and cancelling The Point. All the programming that we're putting into that afternoon block is stuff that we're able to put on the air at no additional cost to us," he said.
The public broadcaster announced in March it was cutting the radio programs Out Front, The Inside Track, In the Key of Charles, The Point and the weekend edition of The Signal.
"It's not just repeats. We think it's a very vibrant interesting block of programming," Boyce said. "We think we've made the strongest schedule we can, given our financial situation, but those cuts weighed very heavily on the decisions."
The weekend schedule on Radio One is also being rejigged as of Sept. 7. Among those changes:
- 16 new episodes of medical program White Coat, Black Art on Saturday.
- The Debaters moves to 1 p.m. Saturday followed by WireTap and DNTO.
- Spark moves to Sunday at 1 p.m. and expands to a full hour.
Some of the changes on Radio One's weekend schedule will be phased in over the summer.
On Radio 2, classical music begins earlier, with Julie Nesrallah's five-hour classical program to start at 9 a.m.
Tom Allen's morning show is an hour shorter, and he will be returning in the afternoons with a new show call Shift. Both shows will feature a mix of jazz, classical and contemporary music.
"Tom is a guy with an incredibly wide range of musical interests — a guy who's as comfortable playing classical music as he is singer-songwriter, and we have that opportunity in the afternoon 90 minutes to a do a show that really made the transition from Tempo into Drive."
Rich Terfry's afternoon drive-home program has also brought younger listeners to Radio 2, he added, and CBC wants to build on that.
"It's a show that I think has brought new listeners to Radio 2, and part of the problem was that people were joining the show at 5.30, when they were leaving work, and at 6 p.m. we were completely shifting musical genres and going to jazz on Tonic. This is an opportunity to keep … people listening into the evening."
Other changes on Radio 2:
- Terfry's afternoon Drive program is longer, running from 3.30 p.m. to 7 p.m.
- Canada Live is shorter and starts at 8 p.m.
- Jazz program Tonic moves to 9 pm.
- The Signal will be shorter and Laurie Brown to host it seven days a week.
The cuts to Canada Live reflect CBC's need to save money by recording less live music, Boyce said.
"We had to make a significant reduction to the amount of live music that we recorded, and this was definitely a reflection of that. We still record hundreds of concerts every year, which is more live music than anyone in this country records."
Weekend changes on Radio 2 include:
- Classical music starts earlier at 10 a.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. on Sunday.
- The end of Jurgen Gothe's Farrago.
- A new program This is My Music, in which some of the classical music community's brightest stars will showcase their favourite musical selections.
- Radio One programs Saturday Night Blues, A Propos and Randy Bachman's Vinyl Tap are added to the Radio 2 schedule.
"What we're really doing is tweaking the schedule," Boyce said. "We had the big changes to Radio 2."
Blink-182 Recruit Fall Out Boy, Weezer for Reunion Tour: Hoppus and Wentz Speak Out
Blink-182 bassist Mark Hoppus breaks some big news in the Summer Tour Preview in the new issue of Rolling Stone: the reunited band is bringing Weezer and Fall Out Boy on the road this summer to open Blink’s first tour since 2005. The news resulted in a big reaction from fans yesterday afternoon when Hoppus posted our story on his blog — and we’ve got more from Hoppus on the lineup, and what to expect on the road right here:
“We started talking about bands to tour with and Weezer was actually one of the first ones that came up,” Hoppus tells Rolling Stone. “They wanted to do the tour, and so did Fall Out Boy. It worked out perfectly.” But fans hoping to catch all three acts together on the tour, which begins July 24th, may be out of luck: Fall Out Boy are on board for two-thirds of the dates and Weezer will play the other third. Dates for the tour, and which bands are opening in which cites, haven’t been announced at press time.
This won’t be the first time members of Blink share the stage with Weezer and Fall Out Boy. Blink guitarist Tom DeLonge’s side project Angel & Airwaves toured with Weezer last year, while Hoppus and Blink drummer Travis Barker toured with Fall Out Boy when their side project, +44, opened FOB’s summer tour in 2007.
“When we started our band, we were like, ‘Man, that’d be so awesome to meet Blink-182,’” Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz says, adding his band is looking forward to the change an opening slot will bring. “It’s been a great stretch of headlining tours the last few years, but there’s something interesting about opening up for bands when you have to rope the audience in.”
Blink-182 are also working to make this tour accessible to as many fans as possible. While the most expensive tickets will go for $60, Hoppus says the band has secured a $20 ticket fee (charges included) for the arenas. “We want this to be an experience that brings the show out to the audience,” Hoppus adds, noting the band has partnered with the set designer Kanye West and Daft Punk use for a light show that will incorporate the entire venue into the band’s performance.
And Blink will debut at least one new tune on the road alongisde favorites like “Rock Show” and “What’s My Age Again,” which may have a more polished feel thanks to the band deciding to do some serious rehearsals before hitting the road. “We used to go on stage and forget our parts,” Hoppus says. “This time we want to be more artistic. We really want the live show on this tour to be something nobody would ever expect from Blink.”
Jay Leno reveals guests on "Tonight Show" swansong
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Comedian Jay Leno, America's top-rated TV host, will bow out of his 17-year stint on "The Tonight Show" on May 29 in the company of his successor Conan O'Brien and singer James Taylor.
Leno, 59, also promised "something really out of the left field" for his last "Tonight Show" before going on to launch a new prime-time chat and comedy show in the fall.
Actor Mel Gibson, comedian Billy Crystal, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and rocker Prince will be among the guests in Leno's final week.
"It's not my job to put it together, but everyone knows who I like," Leno told reporters in a conference call.
O'Brien will take over from Leno on June 1 in a reshuffle on struggling network NBC that will see Leno return in a new show five nights a week in the 10 p.m. slot -- traditionally reserved for scripted drama.
Leno said he had barely begun working on the new show but defended the move to the prime-time slot used by network TV for some of the most lucrative hours of advertising.
"There really isn't any comedy on at 10 p.m. Everything is very serious and adult murder and all these procedural shows. It is fun to have something a little bit different," he said.
The move will save NBC, currently lagging at the bottom of the four major TV networks in ratings, millions of dollars compared to the costs of scripted drama.
"This is not a decision we went into lightly," Leno said. "All the research came back saying people wanted some comedy and we thought going earlier was a good idea.
"I am not going to ram it down people's throats. Let's see if it is something that will work," he said..
Leno said he expected to shed few tears at ending his stint after more than a decade battling CBS rival David Letterman.
"It's not like you are leaving showbusiness, or leaving the network, or even leaving the (studio) lot."