Familiar faces, voices to leave in CBC cost-cutting
CBC English Services has sent 158 redundancy notices to its Canadian Media Guild employees outside Quebec and Moncton as of Thursday in a cutback program that will see the broadcaster lose several of its best known faces and voices.
CMG represents a range of technicians, producers, librarians, journalists and other employees at CBC and Radio-Canada across the country — except in Quebec and Moncton.
The total number of potential layoffs across the country was reduced by 73 employees taking voluntary retirement.
Among those to take retirement packages are some of CBC's most experienced reporters, including Brian Stewart, of The National, Steve Finkelman, a municipal affairs reporter in Edmonton, and John McGrath, who covers Queen's Park in Toronto.
Also taking a retirement package is Jeff Collins, host of Calgary afternoon radio program, The Home Stretch. In Charlottetown, the staff of Compass received redundancy notices, including former on-air personaility Claire Nantes. Don Newman, host of CBC News: Politics, and Jim Nunn, host of CBC News: Nova Scotia at Six,had previously announced they would be retiring.
Stewart, 67, said he had been thinking of retiring for a few years.
"My reasons are simple — I've been working as a reporter without a break for 45 years this month which is a hell of a long haul," he said
"I started six months after Kennedy was shot in Dallas and four months after the Beatles hit North America, so it's probably time for a change. I've also wanted more time to devote to writing and to some non-profit activities I'm interested in."
According to the CMG, about 100 contract employees have not had their positions renewed and a further 19 job vacancies will not be filled. The union says 350 jobs will eventually be cut from the CBC's service outside Quebec through a combination of layoffs, vacancies, retirements and contracts not renewed.
The full impact of the cuts, however, won't be known until September. That's because employees who received notices that their jobs will be eliminated have an opportunity to move into positions held by people with less seniority.
There may also be further changes because of the CBC news renewal process geared to creating 24-hour coverage on radio, TV and online.
Viewers and listeners will begin to see changes on their CBC schedules as soon as next weekend when CBC News: Sunday, the morning TV program with Evan Solomon and Carole MacNeil, is cancelled. The last show airs May 31.
The regional Living shows have been cut across the country, and radio schedules are being juggled to accommodate all the changes at the public broadcaster.
According to CMG, the number of jobs to go, including contract jobs, redundancy notices and voluntary retirements, by city is:
Calgary,18.
Charlottetown, 6.
Corner Brook, NL, 3.
Edmonton, 16.
Fredericton, 3.
Gander, NL, 2.
Grand Falls, NL, 2.
Halifax, 12.
Ottawa, 9.
Rankin Inlet, 1.
Regina, 3.
Saint John, NB, 2.
Saskatoon, 2.
St. John's, 6.
Sudbury, Ont., 8.
Sydney, N.S., 3.
Thunder Bay, Ont., 5.
Toronto, 155.
Vancouver, 45.
Whitehorse, 3.
Windsor, Ont., 13.
Winnipeg, 9.
Yellowknife, 8
A CBC spokesman refused to confirm the figures.
Listeners to small radio stations such as Windsor, Sudbury and Thunder Bay in Ontario are likely to hear the difference. The Windsor French-language service is to end. And those stations have seen deep cuts to their news and current affairs departments.
"As a northerner I’m offended that we always seem to come out on the losing end of things," said CMG Sudbury representative Michael Robert.
Local citizens have organized Save the CBC protests in Sudbury and Thunder Bay in the past two months.
The Maritimes initially faced as many as 30 layoffs, but the number of redundancy notices issued was actually 12. Andrew Cochran, the CBC's top executive in the Maritimes, said efforts have been made to cut as few positions as possible.
"For the last two months, we've been going through this difficult exercise. We offered a voluntary retirement incentive program and some people chose to leave because of that," he told CBC News.
"We were able to find some vacancies where the work can be handled in a different way so we don't have to fill those vacancies. We were also successful in having some positions returned to the region."
A spending freeze resulted in some savings that went back into regional stations, Cochran said.
"It's hard to give rock solid assurance to anybody about their media outlet in these times. That caveat aside, I think what we've seen through this process is a reaffirmation of the value and importance of CBC's connection in communities throughout the country where we are," he said.
Listeners throughout the country will hear their radio noon shows cut to an hour.
Redundancy notices will be served to the CBC-Radio-Canada's Quebec services next week. About 363 jobs are expected to be affected.
The public broadcaster is aiming to reduce operating expenses by $171 million in this fiscal year.
“Guitar Hero 5″ Exclusive: 10 Bands in September 1st Game
The rock video game war will heat up again in the fall: both of the industry’s flagship series are hitting consumers with tantalizing titles in 9/09. Harmonix’s The Beatles: Rock Band arrives September 9th, and now Activision has confirmed Guitar Hero 5 is due September 1st. The game will boast 85 brand-new master recordings, and this week Activision is announcing the band lineup in a series of scavenger hunt-like stories; fans who track down all the featured artists can enter a sweepstakes to win five tickets to concerts at a venue of their choice.
Rolling Stone has revealed that tracks from Queen & David Bowie (presumably “Under Pressure”), Kings of Leon, Santana, Sonic Youth and A Perfect Circle will appear in the game. The title will also come equipped with tunes by Weezer, Bon Jovi, Billy Idol, Elliott Smith and the Bronx.
According to information posted on the game’s official Website, the entire set list will be available for play immediately, and for the first time home rockers will be able to select any combination of instruments — so multiple guitarists, bassists, drummers or vocalists will be able to play at the same time (the perfect use for that army of plastic instruments cluttering your living room). There’s also a new Play Party Mode, which allows instruments to join and drop out of a song without interrupting or ending the track; players need to just pick up an instrument and hit a button to join the action without navigating any menus. Gamespot reports that there’s a new series of competitive modes called RockFest, which include Momentum (difficulty level shifts mid-play) and Streakers (bonus for nailing 10-plus perfect notes). A new Revival Meter allows band members to save a weaker player who has failed out.
CNET adds that Guitar Hero 5’s new features and downloadable content will be compatible with Guitar Hero World Tour. The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil,” Bob Dylan’s “All Along the Watchtower,” Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire,” Tom Petty’s “Runnin’ Down a Dream” and the White Stripes’ “Blue Orchid” will also appear on the game’s set list, along with songs by Blur, Blink-182, Kiss, Band of Horses and Iron Maiden.
"Up" up and away at the weekend box office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – Things are looking "Up" at the weekend box office where Disney is rolling out its latest Pixar cartoon to predictably rave reviews.
Boasting a notably unflashy voice cast headlined by Ed Asner and newcomer child actor Jordan Nagai, "Up" tells the story of an old man traveling the globe in a balloon-hoisted house with an 8-year-old stowaway.
The 3-D adventure toon was directed by Pete Docter ("Monsters, Inc.") and Bob Peterson, a first-time fimmaker who penned the original screenplay.
The most recent Disney/Pixar release, "WALL-E," opened with $63 million in June and grossed $224 million domestically. Those represent sensible targets for "Up," though studio executives said they would be happy with an opening anywhere north of $50 million.
"I'm very bullish," said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's domestic theatrical distribution. "The reviews have been nothing but spectacular, and it could be our time."
RottenTomatoes.com, which tracks critical reaction to upcoming releases, had "Up" attracting 97% positive reviews (http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/up/) late Thursday. Even the oft-tough crowd of Cannes cineastes responded enthusiastically when the film opened the festival this month.
"Up" will play in 3,766 theaters, with at least 1,530 3-D auditoriums set for its first weekend. That's the biggest number of extra-dimensional screens for any release as the industry scrambles to roll out 3-D systems amid burgeoning public interest in such films.
The stiffest competition for "Up" is likely to come from Fox's holdover family comedy "Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian." The No. 1 grosser last weekend, the Ben Stiller sequel opened with $70 million over the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend, and a 50% drop from its Friday-Sunday tally would see "Smithsonian" fetch $28 million during its second session.
But there is another wide opener Friday: the Universal horror picture "Drag Me to Hell" also had a well-received Cannes screening and has drawn overwhelmingly positive early reviews.
Toting a PG-13 rating, "Hell" normally would be expected to skew female. Yet with "Spider-Man" director Sam Raimi guiding the frightfest, Raimi's more male-skewing fan base could round out opening audiences and help the Alison Lohman-Justin Long vehicle reach the upper teen millions through Sunday.