According to a report in The Globe and Mail, Andy Barrie, the silver-haired, golden-throated host of Metro Morning on CBC Radio One, may start doing a morning show for a campus radio station in T.O. while the lockout is on.
An excerpt:
Talks with the stations are continuing, and none has yet confirmed it will participate. The stations want to be reassured that the program will resemble the standards of the CBC program, not a vehicle for union views.
CBC producers say they want to make sure that other locked-out workers are comfortable with the proposed alternate show.
On Thursday, the Globe reported the Canadian Media Guild was considering some type of national news presence on the Web, while CBC management contemplates upping the amount of Canadian content in its national news.
An excerpt:
According to Mark O'Neill, producer for CBC Radio One's Toronto drive-time show Here & Now, who is helping to co-ordinate the project, the alternative national news service will initially be an Internet news site, with written reports and photographs from individual CBC staff members from across the country.
"There is no possible way of replacing the CBC, and everybody recognizes that. But if we can organize ourselves to continue to get some quality news and analysis out to people, why wouldn't we?" said one union official.
There's two parts to a great news organization, or an organization of any type: The human talents and energies, and the resources, primarily financial and all that flows from that.
The story mentioned the worker-produced news product might not be as good as a standard CBC newscast, and that will probably be true.
The CBC, with all the physical and financial resources it has, however, can't produce an equivalent newscast with its managers alone. It needs its regular workforce to do that.
To complete the triumvirate, you need a satisfied audience that chooses to make you a regular part of your day.
Perhaps there's a lesson in that for both warring sides.