The last time I checked, the best thing on CBC radio was "Sunday Morning." The second best thing was "As It Happens." If it were up to me CBC would dump the 'personality' journalism (that's where they hire some people to be charming and they fire everybody else including the researchers and the real journalists). On the other hand, I find NPR is a little bland for my tastes. It is, I suspect, less politically correct than the CBC, but also a bit dumbed down. I was once driving across the US and tuned in to a show that was supposed to be about science: "Space... it's really big. You wouldn't believe how big it is... etc."

Do you get to listen to a Prairie Home Companion on NPR? I'm a fan of that show. I even own some of the books. One book in particular has a very funny passage which is all in the footnotes about an adult man's rebellion against his parents. I used to like the Great Eastern on CBC but it got canned because it was too foreground, which might tell you something about where management is headed. Why the hell would you want the CBC to be background? I don't know.

I'm a little worried about what the Feds in the US are doing to NPR right now. Here's a link to some an article on that: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/22/1347234

The BBC is still good though Blair is probably about to mess that up too http://www.journalism.co.uk/news/story832.shtml
I can remember a time when the CBC was a journalistic rival for the BBC. Now they're not really in the running.

From the CBC PEI site:

"CBC is currently experiencing a labour disruption. Click here to go to the official CBC negotiations site.
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Is 'Sunday Morning' that awful bit that Michael Enright does now that I listen to only half-consiously before getting lazily getting out of bed on Sunday mornings? I can't stand that show.

'As it Happens' and 'Ideas' are probably the two best programs on Radio-1. 'Cross Country Check-up' is worth listening to for 1) the joy of hearing Rex Murphy speak, and 2) the pain of hearing your neigbour given two minutes of national air-time.

I don't bother with much on the television station. Rick Mercer sold out long ago, and does anyone still watch the National?

Um, that would be me. That and BBC World are my sole tv news sources. Which could explain a great deal...

I think Rex Murphy is a charming, bright, well-read person, but I don't think he is very serious. I've read a lot of his columns and I've heard him on the radio as well. His main form of discourse seems to be the elaborate insult (which can be very funny, but still). Also, Cross Country Checkup isn't real journalism. It's essentially a poll with a little personality tacked on for decoration. The reason I pointed to Sunday Morning is that I used to like the part of that show that featured documentaries from around the world, the host to me is not a major draw, but I don't think he's a deterrent either.

Re: the strike,
I think CBC radio could use two things: money and a change in management. I think the CBC needs a serious commitment from the government and a new strategy that involves a genuine renewal of local programming.

That is an extremely interesting observation on Rex Murphy. I would be interested in what a Newfoundlander thought of his "quip as observation" technique as it is entirely based on implication...but that is a good part of the particular cultural wit.