Nobody knows what the hell they're doing.
August 21, 2015 7:03 AM   Subscribe

CBC Radio's WireTap is saying farewell. In this special video message, people of all ages offer words of wisdom to their younger counterparts.
posted by roomthreeseventeen (12 comments total) 8 users marked this as a favorite
 
Every time CBC Radio loses more of its original programming, I become sad. For me, one of the worst things about the Harper gov't has been the gutting and complete disregard for the CBC. Much like the BBC, the CBC is a wonderful distinct entity that defines and unites a country. You couldn't have something like this back in the States. The idea of a national broadcaster--especially on the radio--is a foreign concept, but here, it's wonderful to know that apart from regional shows, it celebrates the Canadian identity.

As for the video, mine would be: "Dear 22-year-old, when your employers offer to take you with them to NYC and you want to say no because you like your current boyfriend...believe me, there will be other boyfriends. In NYC. Love, 38-year-old you."
posted by Kitteh at 7:27 AM on August 21, 2015 [13 favorites]


Dear 23 year old,
When he asks you to marry him, and every fiber of your body screams "NO", say it.
Love, 33-year-old you.

Dear 48-year-old me,
What the fuck do I do now?
posted by We put our faith in Blast Hardcheese at 8:34 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


Agreed Kitteh. It feels like fully half of CBC R1's programming these days is "morning show - the evening edition", or "rewind: content from better times", or "interesting piece produced by another public broadcaster that actually receives funding". Sad.

I wonder what Johnathan Goldstein will do next. Wiretap was comedy gold, so I doubt he'll be idle for long.
posted by Popular Ethics at 8:35 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


Goldstein is going to Gimlet. I have ... mixed feelings.
posted by maudlin at 8:39 AM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


They air some NPR content on Friday afternoons and I seethe with rage because there is no reason we should have to import content during the day. (Nothing against NPR, but when you have an entire network dedicated to Canadian content, it makes me angry we have to air stuff from the US.)
posted by Kitteh at 8:50 AM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


I had a real love/hate relationship with this show, in that I would sometimes find it funny as hell, and other times annoying as hell.

I guess that's saying it hit a nerve either way, and I'm sad it's been cancelled.

For me, one of the worst things about the Harper gov't has been the gutting and complete disregard for the CBC.

I'd argue it's outright hostility.

That being said, while the visigoths streaming in through the gates, CBC management shouldn't be let off the hook for their incompetent fiddling. So some of the rot, sadly, is from within.

Jonathan Goldstein's Wiretap: an Appreciation
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 8:51 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


A friend was mourning the loss of WireTap. I asked her to point me towards something that would be a good introduction. She linked me here and told me to start listening at about five and a half minutes in. It's juggling on the radio and I immediately got the appeal of the show.
posted by Kattullus at 8:57 AM on August 21, 2015


Sigh. The CBC is such an amazing institution. I wish the Harper govt would allow it to flourish.
posted by persona au gratin at 10:16 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


The 53 year-old is Carolyn Warren, she used to do the outro for Wiretap and is now VP Arts at the Banff Centre. I always wanted to get her to do my voicemail message. Jonathan deserves credit for doing the only QA with an audience I've ever seen that didn't end in certain death.
posted by furtive at 11:26 AM on August 21, 2015


I've heard (not sure from who or where) that of all the shows that my local NPR station airs, WireTap gets the most listener feedback. A bunch positive but a lot neutral-to-negative, mainly from people who can't figure out at all if it's supposed to be real or comedy or what the heck. It's like Jonathan Goldstein occupies an Uncanny Valley of earnestness and that unnerves some people.
posted by mhum at 11:54 AM on August 21, 2015 [2 favorites]


That's the thing, eh? This is a show that's been successfully exported to NPR. This is something that translates because it's not contrived earnest Cancon.

And...they snuff it out. Le sigh.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 3:59 PM on August 21, 2015 [1 favorite]


I don't think it was snuffed out, exactly. Goldstein's going to Gimlet, with Starlee and a lot of other people he knows from TAL. God knows the CBC is being nibbled to death by ducks, at best, and that there may have been some specific stuff going on behind the scenes to encourage him to leave, but I doubt there was any executive decision to cancel or change it. He says after eleven years that he wants to try something new, and I believe it.

But I agree with the rest of it. The CBC is producing much less original content than it used to. There's a handful of interesting summer shows on Radio 1 this year, but fewer than before, I think. One of these summer shows just plays podcast excerpts with a bit of commentary in between. There has been NO original, unrepeated CBC content between 10 PM and 5:30 AM since about 2009. Middle of the night shows are all repeats of the The Current (to go with the evening repeat), various Monocle shows *shudder*, PRI's The World, and some genuinely interesting British, Irish, German, Australian, and African shows once a week each.
posted by maudlin at 6:49 PM on August 21, 2015 [3 favorites]


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