All Vancouver, all the time

Regular CBC-radio listeners in Victoria may have noticed their morning news seems to have a Fraser Valley focus as of late. That’s because the taxpayer funded broadcaster everyone loves to hate doesn’t seem to have the resources to maintain regional newscasts when the summer holiday season rolls around.

With on-air personality Jennifer Chrumpka off to CBC’s Kelowna bureau, Jeff Weaver retired and reporter Lisa Cordasco and station manager Peter Hutchinson on holidays, it seems there is no one left at the Pandora station to produce local news.

“Well, we try to keep on the air as much as we can and sometimes we just can’t find people with the appropriate skill set, and that was one of the things that happened in this situation,” CBC Radio’s program manager for current affairs Lorna Haeber told Monday.

Haeber says that since On the Island host Gregor Craigie’s new on-air replacement for Jeff Weaver is joining the Victoria station from Moncton, New Brunswick, the station has been short-staffed.

“When you’re moving within a corporation like the CBC with staff across the country, when you hire them they just can’t be on the air the next day,” says Haeber. “They’ve got to get out of whatever situation they’re in and backfill has to be found for them and they might have to sell a house. So, it’s just been a long process to backfill for Jeff Weaver. We do have a plan in place and everything should be back to normal in mid-August.”

But by mid-August, will news-hungry Island residents tune out CFAX and tune back in to the CBC?

                                 ... posted by Jason Youmans, MondayMag.com

Er, this is news to me. I didn't even know that CBC was still on the air!  The last time I recall listening to it was when my Aunt Gertrude came over for a visit  in 1968, and the Host was fawning over David Suzuki's expertise regarding the fruit fly.

It's great that our modest little site can help expand your horizon a tad.  I think most people in commercial radio have a grudging admiration for the things the CBC does well, albeit while slurping at the tax trough.

Quoted from mikedup

It's great that our modest little site can help expand your horizon a tad.  I think most people in commercial radio have a grudging admiration for the things the CBC does well, albeit while slurping at the tax trough.

An oversight like this would get someone fired if it were allowed to happen in private radio.
I'll admit some of us may have a grudging admiration for what the CBC does well (such as filling out industry awards submissions, etc.) but it's clear the basic rules of staffing and management aren't among them.

Quoted Text

�Well, we try to keep on the air as much as we can and sometimes we just can�t find people with the appropriate skill set, and that was one of the things that happened in this situation,� CBC Radio�s program manager for current affairs Lorna Haeber told Monday.

Appropriate skill set?!  WTF does that even MEAN?  Quite simply, they failed to backfill their staff in Victoria.  You would think that if your senior reporter has vacation time booked off, then, geez, I don't know, you'd have someone at the ready to cover those shifts maybe?  What a novel concept.

I was listening to…..The Count….Gregor Craigie….this morning and heard a voice from the past on one of the newscasts.

She was doing a story about…. well, I can't remember now because it was good ole….Mohini Drone…… er ……Mohini Singh, with that, BBC, sing-song delivery, lowering the tone at the end of every sentence, reading style, that I can't stand!

I liked her stuff when she was on TV and they could break up her read with interviews and video, but what a disaster when she went over to radio and read that, bottom of the hour "wire copy special" they have on Daybreak South and North every morning.

She never sounded confident or interested in what she was doing. I don't know where she went, but they said goodbye to her one morning and that was it.

Now I hear her doing a voicer in a newscast?

Staffing problems must be serious.

REDDS

I think the CBC morning show is best in the market. They touch on local issues, have great listener feedback, and keep the show moving. I daresay they scoop the Victoria TV news stations more often than not. I would call the summer holiday vacancy more of a glitch than the norm.

I agree with Kahuna.  Generally in the mornings they have more local content than any other stations in town (including the news authority), and I think Gregor is doing a good job.  It'll be great when the guy who replaced Jeff Weaver finally starts and everything gets back to normal.