Has anyone else been witness to the startlingly lower standards lately at C-FAX News?? I enjoy many women newsreaders, and Nikki Ewanyshyn of "The Fax" is a good one.
But the same station that boasts Frank Stanford and Al Sebring (or Steve Duffy) in the newsroom in the morning, is inflicting upon us some woe-begone beginning broadcasters these days, interns or fresh-from-broadcasting-school females who don't yet have the on-air skills for a medium market like Victoria.
One afternoon recently, while Ryan Price presumably was on shift, he took a break & we were treated to a series of on-air auditions that were extremely painful to suffer through. At least the woman who seems to have won out .. reads fairly well, but her small thin voice carries little authority .. for THE sole remaining radio news outlet in the Capital City. (My apologies to 'The Q' .. yours is but a 'token' news service.)
First we lost C-FAX meteorologist Blaine Coulcher to budget cuts. He's been replaced in large part by adenoidal operators who get to butcher the weather 5 or 6 times an hour, telling us who they are EVERY time, and sometimes twice in a single report. Their names are mentioned more often than the talk-show hosts they're interrupting! Yet their on-air work is of a standard that begs for anonymity.
I know there are Vancouverites who will try to point to CKNW as a similar case. I would reject the comparison, every one of NW's news staff is a seasoned pro compared to the abysmally low standards C-FAX seems ready to tolerate.
Since there is no C-FAX News Director I would normalIy try protesting to the station's head honcho Terry Spence, but he doesn't seem to handle constructive criticism at all well.
Your evaluation is pretty much correct. CBC Victoria offers a great local news and info package in the morning, although the current weather guy is weak.
Has anyone else been witness to the startlingly lower standards lately at C-FAX News?? I enjoy many women newsreaders, and Nikki Ewanyshyn of "The Fax" is a good one.
But the same station that boasts Frank Stanford and Al Sebring (or Steve Duffy) in the newsroom in the morning, is inflicting upon us some woe-begone beginning broadcasters these days, interns or fresh-from-broadcasting-school females who don't yet have the on-air skills for a medium market like Victoria.
One afternoon recently, while Ryan Price presumably was on shift, he took a break & we were treated to a series of on-air auditions that were extremely painful to suffer through. At least the woman who seems to have won out .. reads fairly well, but her small thin voice carries little authority .. for THE sole remaining radio news outlet in the Capital City. (My apologies to 'The Q' .. yours is but a 'token' news service.)
First we lost C-FAX meteorologist Blaine Coulcher to budget cuts. He's been replaced in large part by adenoidal operators who get to butcher the weather 5 or 6 times an hour, telling us who they are EVERY time, and sometimes twice in a single report. Their names are mentioned more often than the talk-show hosts they're interrupting! Yet their on-air work is of a standard that begs for anonymity.
I know there are Vancouverites who will try to point to CKNW as a similar case. I would reject the comparison, every one of NW's news staff is a seasoned pro compared to the abysmally low standards C-FAX seems ready to tolerate.
Since there is no C-FAX News Director I would normalIy try protesting to the station's head honcho Terry Spence, but he doesn't seem to handle constructive criticism at all well.
First we lost C-FAX meteorologist Blaine Coulcher to budget cuts.
I'd like to know if Blaine's belief and understanding about the scam of Global Warming had any impact on his dismissal. He Was Let go folks, he never retired. They Retired him....
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He's been replaced in large part by adenoidal operators who get to butcher the weather 5 or 6 times an hour, telling us who they are EVERY time, and sometimes twice in a single report. Their names are mentioned more often than the talk-show hosts they're interrupting! Yet their on-air work is of a standard that begs for anonymity.
yes, I agree, I thought I was listening to the Corey Polkinghorn show but later discovered it was really the Joe Easingwood Open line radio show.
I wonder if the woman's voice you heard was Sonja Jenson, who just came from Nanaimo at the Wolf/Wave? She'd only been there for 1 month before landing the CFAX job.
i thought exactly the same thing this afternoon when i heard Kim O'Hare....i hope he wins this round of auditions, or whatever it is that's going on at CFAX. very easy to listen to, and his voice oozes credibility, in stark contrast to their other previously mentioned newscasters of late.
now if they can just get Adam Stirling to SLOW DOWN....or unplug the coffee maker after his tenth cup. pretty good pipes, but god, turn it back a notch or two!
Things are looking up at CFAX News. I've just heard a smooth, professional 'update' voiced by a Tim O'Hare.
Could the downward spiral at the once proud AM 1070 finally be over?
It's actually Kim O'Hare, I believe - a local radio instructor from the Camosun College broadcast program. And with him providing news updates, I would have to agree that the AM 1070 downward spiral is finally over!
Terry Spence, but he doesn't seem to handle constructive criticism at all well.
The News Authority is the biggest laff in town. Having worked with the man I can assure you NO ONE second guesses his dictums! (Many will remember being Snackerized.) Frankly it's evident he's abdicated all interest or acknowledgment about C-FAX's direction and is waiting out his retirement. Should've bailed when Cooper did. By the way, anybody hear about Mel any more since the "Experience"? Dropped off the map.
Mailman - - - Look (but don't listen) for Mel in the Okanagan.
Hey, did I hear someone write that "every one of NW's news staff is a seasoned pro compared to . . . "
Hardly seems possible in a major market but, for a few years now, NW has been giving 'interns' and 'broadcasting schools' a bad reputation by experimenting with an endless flow of wamabe's and neverwillbe's. This method of acquiring on-air staff is certainly one way of ensuring that one day soon the radio industry will no longer have a category known as 'experienced veteran broadcasters.'
Comparing the radio of today to those halcyon days prior to the 90's is like comparing the stammering of a rapper to the harmonious sounds of a Bing Crosby, Barbara Streisand, The Everley Brothers, the Beatles or for that matter almost anyone who can hum on key.
But as that wise old sage 'newsbeat' so poignantly phrased it, "You're allowed to turn off your radio!"
Thank goodness the CBC still maintains a standard serious, career-minded broadcasters can strive for.
Al Ferraby isn't a news guy but he appears on the Shaw news panel? That doesn't make sense to me? Ed Bain of the Q has never made an appearance, or Gregor Craigie of CBC?
Right, Ferraby is not a traditional news guy, but since he no longer plays music, just what IS his category?
"Entertaining dispenser of information ..." "AM show traffic cop ...." "The glue that binds the shew together ..." "A human and verbal alarm clock ..."
He's just a guy who was once pretty creative and enjoyable to listen to, now just holding on to a dead end job. How creative can you be as the one who just throws from feature to time check to feature? Sad. (Well at least he can still get to VT KOOL.)
Al's a real talent, no doubt about that, and all things considered, his talents probably are wasted on the current CFAX format. but this is most obvious when he takes a vacation and one of the news types fills in for him on the morning show....Al may only be doing intros and time checks, but he has that subtle way that makes it all flow and seem effortless. plug a replacement from the newsroom in that chair for a week or so and Al's value comes shining through. it was proven yet again the past couple of weeks. as for the Shaw panel......hey, if a newsie can 'host' the morning show, Al can sit on a news panel! and as for not playing music anymore on the CFAX morning show....really, do any of us miss Gino Vanelli that much at 6am?
Point taken. It's not Al, a regular guy and a pro. My point was: his talent is wasted from the days when he could deliver. C-FAX, in their feeble attempt to retain any credibilty while hiring green novices, has also rendered their mornings into a blah-de-blah littany of hashed-over programming that just drives more and more listeners to CBC. (Other than the Kool-Aid drinkers that can't break the "comfortable shoe" habit-and they're assuming room temperature rapidly.) The same applies to the rest of the day. What the hell happened to this station that once was truly an innovative force in the city, that once employed real professionals? If C-FAX tried to enter today's market as it is now, it would fail in six months. A good programmer could still take this heritage AM'r and make it soar. AM radio isn't dead yet. But of course that would take someone who really cared.....
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