Well, I for one want the CBC to do a few things, being an avid fan of its radio programs and a fair bit of its television. I want zero, zilch, none of that American gameshow ilk. I want no American programming whatsoever unless said production meets more stringent CanCon requirements than current. I want no commercials and I want it funded by my tax dollars. I want a continuation of Canada centric comedies and documentaries. I want Hockey to have less prominence when it comes to the weekend (I mean seriously, it drops in popularity annually yet it still supercedes everything when it comes to weekend programming..argh. give it to sportsnet).

I want CBC to be the beacon of culture and modern Canadiana that it is supposed to be, not just another channel choice of the same old crap with a slight canuck bent similar to what you get on US stations.

I am quite happy to go the way of PBS if that is what it takes.

I also want a CBC retro channel where I can watch Beachcombers all day long but I can make my own on YouTube.

I do not care, because what I watch on the CBC (when in Canada) is the National and Hockey Night in Canada.

Both can be provided just fine by the private sector.

But there is something to be said for a channel providing the sorts of high culture things that other channels will not. And that's the PBS model, no?

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If I were a Canadian taxpayer, which I am no longer, I'd want my money -- if it has to subsidize something, a point which I am still skeptical about -- to go to the tasks the CBC does that others can't.

So... yea for Cross Country Check-up and the like. Nay for the third biography of Castro and that documentary about American foreign policy in the 1950s.

I care because the far flung regions of Canada are not capable of producing commercial programming i.e. programming that would pay for itself through ad revenue and then the only programming we would get would be centrist and/or American. I don't have a problem with people choosing to watch or listen to other stuff but I think it is a good thing for a country to have a national broadcaster with a "Canadian" mandate. It helps connect the country and helps in the sense of nationhood. There are lots of improvements to be made, of course, and off the top of my head, here are a few suggestions: 1. The CBC should increase its regional programming mandate in both radio & television. 2. It should offer cultural programming not available in commercial radio & television. 3. It should offer news and current affairs not available in commercial radio & television. 4. The government should INCREASE funding to CBC if they get back to their roots. 5. CBC isn't getting ratings trying to be more commercial, so they should just give up on ratings and offer quality programming instead.

I am with Hans on all of his points.

I want modern day shows about the regions. I want documentaries about the Inuit making muklucks and childrens dramas about kids in plaid shirts having adventures in Labrador. Anything to educate the masses about the country and to counter the commercial influence from the south.

When was there last a drama in English set in Atlantic Canada, Quebec or suburban Ontario? Why doesn't Newsworld just repeat local TV news like it did in the early years instead of presenting centralized news and rehashing The National and other main network programming?

I used to care about CBC radio. Since they started messing around with the programming to make it more popular, I don't care at all. I also don't care for their political bias, though I do not think they are a voice of the left. As for TV, they don't do much original programing anymore. I think we'd be better off, and artists would be better off if that money were in a big fund that could be used to create programming that could show/play on other networks.

I care a little. If a state broadcaster must exist, then its job should be to promote high culture, national history, local news and the things that the private broadcasters will not touch. I want to turn on the radio and hear Rossini or Holst, not the daily hokey-jokey "Is the mainstream just misinformed, or eeeeeeeevil?!" routine on The Current. I want Mansbridge (boring, doesn't do good field work anymore) and Enright (a massive super-dense singularity of boring) put out to pasture. I want to see CBC coverage of the annual Yukon Sourdough Rendezvous Air Show. Stuff that happens on the other side of the country that I'll probably never get to.

As Jay Currie said many moons ago:

There is nothing wrong with the CBC that relocating the whole kit and Kaboodle to Moose Jaw would not solve.

The old warhorses (and the boring young ones) would retire, Annex brain would recede, Hockey Night in Canada would be taken seriously, Ontario (and most of all Toronto) would become just another region, CBC producers would meet interesting people who made, grew and extracted actual stuff..

Get it out of Toronto, Montreal or Vancouver and non-urban-centric programming is bound to happen. Let's start seeing the rest of the country on the flatscreen. Enough with the Toronto-driven focus. CityTV does urban angles already, and does it better than CBC ever will.

Well, I have seen no evidence that our western social overlords have anything to provide in particular so I expect by Moose Jaw you would equally support Bathurst NB. Let's also see less of the Western Canadian based family drama's and comedies, too.

I want Chris to program the CBC. And yes, get it out of Toronto, and get rid of the fake western shows.

I wonder what savings would occur if all CBC operations were moved to communities of less than 200,000 people.

Lots would be saved, I imagine.

And I assume Bathurst NB would serve just as well.

Point being to get it to a place that would horrify the Annex crowd (I grew up in the Annex!) and would therefore make sure that only the truly committed stuck with it.

So wait, I think we've got this figured out.

Split off into two --

1. Urban hipster network, to be given a bloc grant and then told to get lost and raise money PBS-style; and
2. Rural CBC, to be relocated to Moose Jaw SK or Bathurst NB (or Moose Factory MB), which will remain subsidized annually.

I always thought regionalization of national museums would provide a similar benefit.

I must say, as much as I like Go(!), DNTO and Q, I do not like the plethora of new music played in between shows as filler. I am an aficionado of small indie Canadian bands, but the young hipster stuff goes a bit far some times.

(Side note.. I am more than annoyed that my classical at work fix now comes solely from a US station.. not that I don't love US NPR type radio, but if there are two CBC radio nets, I don't want one to be jazz and crud with unfunny smarmy morning guy)

I am all for the whole kit and the kaboodle as well being shipped to the Maritimes or Moose Jaw, Iqualuit, or heck, after my trip two weeks ago, Cumberland BC. Why not five regional small town stations that serve the nation? Why not 10? Ditch the Toronto and Montreal and Ottawa hub ideas.

Oops. Missed your museum point Alan. I agree. We drove to Hull yesterday to take the kids to the Civ museum. We left promptly afterwards as it is right in the middle of a commercial area on a busy road. This is exactly why we avoid trips to the ROM and Science Centre etc. Slap those puppies down in a smaller town with a smaller tourist driven economy and we'd go three times as often

I always thought I'd be much more interested in the CFL if it only had Canadian players in it (oooo, Rocket Ishmael!!). Silly sort of nationalist that I am. I don't expect it to be, and it wouldn't be "better" but I think it would be more interesting.

I know when I've travelled throughout the country (and anywhere else, really), I've always been very interested in the local news programming. With some satellite television setups, you can opt for the 'cross country' channels and get CBC and other networks' regional programming. Oh, they have flooding there!? Wow, it's getting dark at 3pm up there. Neat, the day is just getting started on the west coast. I'd love to be able to peer into how life is going elsewhere in my big old country. I don't want it filtered through the center. Just the local content and views (I like watching the Boston stations sometimes, and surely miss Bangor). I know some of the CBC website is organized this way. So, yes, more regional programming, but making it available to everyone somehow.

What CBC programming do I watch now? Nothing really. We watch Coronation Street on CBC but I think that's about it. Don’t get me started on being 9 months behind…!

I think locating in small communities would be cheaper, except that Iqualuit is very expensive. Smaller centers would generally have cheaper rent, and the "CBC Celebreties" would likely be cheaper, cult figure types. I didn't realize you could watch the CFL anywhere outside of Saskatchewan unless you go to a game. Is it on TV?

TSN has all the games. CBC lost interest. Like the Expos. Like the Olympics. Yet people in Canada like sports.

I don't believe a national broadcaster should only show high art. I think Bravo is for that. I think it should show some but also what the BBC used to call "light entertainment" too. The cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches of art.

The CBC already does the "small community" thing - they're also the only ones who provide local TV coverage in the Maritimes, unless you go with CTV's definition of "local", in which case NB and PEI are lumped together with NS.

So I'd say...
1) continued emphasis on local coverage and shows
2) a more "classical" radio 2, but it has to be more than classical pops. Some good jazz wouldn't hurt, since they're not providing that now.
3) radio 1 is generally, okay, but they should stop cancelling shows like this.
4) absolutely no radio commercials
5) focus on news, current affairs, documentaries for TV, with the odd comedies or dramas. The "western-themed" shows are just a current trend. They'll be back to earnest Cape Breton period pieces before long.
6) get the Olympics back (they certainly didn't just give them up!). Broadcasting the next World Cup is an excellent move.

You get the small community thing if you live in a small community. Which is nice if there's only one or two major media outlets.

If you live in a bigger community you don't get to see/hear any of the small community news. Like the Yukon Sourdough Days. Or the Farmersville Exhibition/Steam Fair. You get the same local stories the other twelve media outlets in your community are broadcasting, except that CBC manages to suck all the flavour out of it because they interview the same boring six experts all the time.

I don't need CBC to compete with the local Toronto broadcasters—who will, in any event, do a better job than CBC in capturing local reaction. I need CBC to tell me about crap going on on the other side of the country, that none of the hipsters and oldsters at Front & Simcoe care about.

What do I watch/listen to on CBC?

Television:
"This Hour Has 22 Minutes" - which is hysterical again with their newer cast
"Mercer Report" - who is not nearly as funny as he once was, but his show is on before 22 Minutes
"HNIC" - but only when the Habs are on, which is rarely.

Radio:
Local morning and afternoon shows, which are pretty decent
Word at 6 news - which is quite good
As It Happens - excellent
Dispatches - very good
The House - mediocre, but it its on at a time that I'm up and at home

Shows that are excellent but that I rarely get to hear - Q, White Coat Black Art, The Age of Persuasion

I don't really care about more local programming or more rural programming, as local programming seems to be pretty good and most of the country lives in cities. Whenever I'm in Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, London, Winnipeg, Saskatoon, or Victoria I find CBC radio to be a good mix of local and national programming. I could see though a need for more local programming in the North.

I definitely agree though that the network is doing too much that could be done by private networks, especially on television.

I wouldn't really care to see the television go, but I would very much miss the radio. Perhaps they should put all the television money into radio - Don Cherry and Peter Mansdbridge's sallary's alone would be able to improve and expand the radio programming.

White Coat Black Art *was* great... it seems to be on indefinite hiatus, though.

Whitecoat Blackart has been cancelled? Dang.

My fave CBC radio shows have to be the Age of Persuasion and Quirks and Quarks.. I only they'd find a way to get AofP available on podcast though, I'd hear it more often.

P.S. I would rather see Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune than Little Mosque on the Prairie. Emphasis should be on "quality" programming. Also, I kind of like the new programs on Radio 2 but maybe they should have just put them on Radio One a ditched Jian Gomeshi. Am I getting too personal now?

Not at all. I like the blog to have the tone of a night rally.

And the news says as of 1:00 pm today that 800 jobs to be cut and assets sold. If only one of those assets is to be Don Cherry, at least one small glimmer of light will be seen by Canadians.