Due to broken promises and subsequent budget cuts, our previous government forced CBC radio to resort to using advertisements to supplement funding. It was outrageous then and it is outrageous now. The CRTC is now inviting the public to express their opinions on the matter and Friends of Canadian Broadcasting has set up a convenient online form to do just that.
I have submitted my letter and I strongly encourage all of you to do the same. Unlike other online campaigns, this online form does not come with a cookie cutter letter that you can just throw your name at the bottom of. That’s right, you will actually have to write the letter. If that feels a bit daunting, don’t be discouraged. It is not as hard or as time consuming as you might think, I assure you. For the especially reluctant, I am including the letter I wrote. Use some, all, or none of itl to help you write your own letter.
To whom it may concern,
CBC radio is a cornerstone of Canadian culture. It ties this large country together. It is a huge part of who we are individually and, as a result, who we are as a nation. Being such an important part of our identity, CBC radio is an essential service and should be fully funded by the government.
The cuts to CBC’s funding and the subsequent need for them to use advertising to keep afloat felt like a deeply personal betrayal. Our bright shining gem was tainted and dulled with the ugly tar of commercial advertising. This should not be!
Like access to water free of contagions, access to CBC free of advertisements is a fundamental right of Canadians. After all this time, I still feel the sting of each wretched ad I hear on CBC – like a thorn jabbing in and reopening a wound, making healing impossible.
I beseech all who have influence in such matters, all that can be done to get CBC fully funded and ad free, must be done. An ad free CBC is something that made Canada great. We cannot let that greatness slip away.
bleatmop
Mystro
The Arbourist
Dead Wild Roses 
6 comments
June 13, 2016 at 5:56 am
roughseasinthemed
One of my blogpals and her partner used to work for CBC (Cynthia Reyes). Must ask her for her view.
It’s a bit like getting ads on WP blogs. Except in terms of TV people pay for it, so a much worse sting :(
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June 13, 2016 at 7:22 am
Mystro
@roughseasinthemed
An insider view on this would indeed be interesting. It would be a great article. “How the people of CBC feel about being shafted by the government and having to put obscene ads on their otherwise superior product”.
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June 20, 2016 at 2:06 pm
A. S. Morris
I listen to CBC radio all the time. Having been born in England I began at a very young age just after WWII to listen to CBC after moving to Canada. CBC joins British Columbia to St. John’s, Newfound. It is the only Broadcaster that doesn’t use advertising. It is non-partisan and in order to remain so, we Canadians pay out taxes so it stays that way. Let it stay that way.
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June 20, 2016 at 3:52 pm
Mystro
@A. S. Morris
As far as I know, CBC Radio One is in no danger of having advertisements pollute its programming, thank goodness. Unfortunately, Radio 2 started running ads in 2013. It needs to rejoin Radio One in the ad-less haven.
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June 30, 2016 at 8:41 pm
tnt666
I’ve mostly given up on CBC radio. It started sometime about when I realised they’d become more about “repping” than about information.
I hate any advertising, and I’ve heard adverts on the French SRC, and haven’t yet heard any on CBC. But I so rarely listen to radio these days.
Take away the celebrities and “repping”, bring back journalism, and I will become interested once more.
There is now some religious show on CBC 7 days a week. They drive me nuts.
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July 1, 2016 at 12:27 am
Mystro
@tnt666
“There is now some religious show on CBC 7 days a week.”
Ugh. Really? Fortunately I’ve missed it so far. How dismal.
“I hate any advertising”
Agreed. I don’t know what’s more frustrating. How much the adverts insult my intelligence or the knowledge that they must be effective on many people, else they wouldn’t be there.
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