Jane Chalmers is stepping down as vice-president of CBC Radio, leaving expanded local programming as her main legacy.
In a surprise move, the head of CBC English radio, who championed the public broadcaster's re-emphasis on regional and local news, announced she is retiring after five years. ...
She will continue in her position until the end of December. She is leaving her position at a time when CBC English radio is widely seen as the one of the broadcaster's strongest pillars. As CBC president Robert Rabinovitch noted in a staff message yesterday, Radio One's morning shows are in the top three in most local markets, and audience shares are reaching record levels.
However, Radio Two is still settling into a major overhaul of its programming, and the broadcaster remains in the throes of a wholesale return to local news throughout all its divisions. Ms. Chalmers is widely credited by industry insiders as being a major force back into local programming.
Question: Is Ms. Chalmers responsible for the "Totally Toronto" theme?
And how do people in Hamilton feel about that? :)
I've heard at least one complaint that CBC Radio is getting too local, but frankly, I have no glib answer as to what the appropriate amount of local programming would be for a national public broadcaster.
I'm in a charitable mood tonight, so I'll say if the audiences are going up, then the answer would be that CBC is appropriately local.
At the same time, however, if I'm in a different part of the country, I could on CBC to give me the national view. It's easy to find traffic information.
And even when I'm here in Toronto, I find it can be a long time between decent national/international news fixes on the "Totally Toronto" 99.1 FM.