Canadian Broadcasting Corporation



"Half an hour later in Newfoundland"

- Every radio program's preview has this.

"You're watching CBC Television/Ici Radio-Canada."

The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (known in French as (la Société) Radio-Canada or SRC), is the government owned national network in Canada. It was originally a national network of radio stations founded in 1936. It was founded as the successor of the Canadian Radio Broadcasting Commission founded in 1932 which was, in turn, the federally-mandated replacement for the Canadian National Railways radio network, established in 1923. Indirectly, this makes the CBC the second-oldest broadcast network in the world, after the BBC. The first CBC television broadcasts began in September, 1952.

English-language CBC radio is split into two channels. CBC Radio One provides a mix of local and national programming, mostly news and public affairs, but with some music, Radio Drama and comedy programming as well. CBC Radio 2 is mostly classical music and opera, though it has been adding more popular music lately, and consists mostly of national programming. Neither network runs advertisements except during federal elections when it's legally required to run candidate ads.

French-language SRC radio also has two channels. Première Chaîne is the French equivalent of CBC Radio One, and has a similar broadcasting focus. Espace musique is the French equivalent of CBC Radio 2, and until recently, had a similar format to its English counterpart, with the name La chaîne culturelle. However, in 2004, most of the high-brow cultural programs were moved to Première Chaîne, while the now-rebranded Espace musique started focusing on classical, jazz, folk, and world music. This rebranding was controversial, but proved popular.

There is also RCI, Radio Canada International, which is the CBC's international arm.

Some national programs from CBC Radio One are:
 * C'est La Vie: A show focusing on Canada French speaking culture.
 * Cross Country Checkup: A national call-in show focusing on politics.
 * As it Happens: Evening news magazine where the hosts call the subjects for interviews. (also syndicated to NPR stations, mainly in the Upper Midwest)
 * The Current: Morning current affairs magazine.
 * The House: National political affairs.
 * Vinyl Cafe: Comedy and variety show, basically a Canadian equivalent of A Prairie Home Companion, down to the touring live shows and its folksy storyteller host, Stuart Mc Lean.
 * Vinyl Tap: Classic Rock show hosted by Canadian rock legend, Randy Bachman (of the Guess Who and Bachman Turner Overdrive.)
 * Definitely Not the Opera: A light arts and human interest show that runs at the same time as CBC Radio 2's weekly Opera broadcast.
 * Quirks and Quarks: National science program.
 * Ideas: Intellectual documentaries and lectures.
 * Q: An interview-based arts show (and popular podcast), hosted by Jian Ghomeshi, a former member of nerd-folk band Moxy Früvous.
 * The Debators: A game show where pairs of comedians debate subjects with the aim of both being as persuasive and funny as possible.
 * The Sunday Edition: The Sunday morning current affairs and culture show.
 * The World at Six/The World This Weekend: The main evening news show.

Radio One usually has at least one Radio Drama running as well. Recent series include:
 * Afghanada:Essentially Canada's Tour Of Duty about Canada soldiers serving in Afghanistan.
 * Monsoon House: A series starring Russel Peters about the misadventures of an Indo-Canadian family and their small book publishing business.
 * Backbencher: The misadventures of a rookie backbencher Member of Parliament serving in Canada's federal parliament in Ottawa.
 * Trust Inc.: The trials of a Toronto based public firm.
 * Canadia: 2056: A satire on the War on Terror and Canada's role therein, set on the starship Canadia, the only Canadian contribution to an American interstellar invasion fleet. The ship specialize in toilet repair.

Launching in the year 2000, the CBC introduced CBC Radio 3 devoted entirely to Canadian indie music. Unlike Radio One and Radio Two, Radio 3 does not broadcast on terrestrial radio waves, but as a live streaming feed online and, as of 2005, satellite radio. Radio 3 serves as a Voice With an Internet Connection for new Canadian indie rock, (anti-)folk, and alternative hip hop, a launching pad for Canadian artists to get their music heard on a national and international broadcast service. Dedicating a non-standard broadcasting space to new music has allowed the CBC to keep their terrestrial stations more focused on their traditional programming, though given that the CBC is a national radio and television service, an Unpleasable Fanbase is all but inevitable.

CBC's television arm has five main channels: CBC Television, Télévision de Radio-Canada, CBC Newsworld, Reseau de l'information (RDI), and bold (formerly CBC Country Canada). The latter three are cable only channels.

CBC Television is a traditional TV channel, except that it runs predominantly Canadian programming, with a few British Series added in. Télévision de Radio-Canada is similar, but broadcasts in the French language. In terms of programming layout, it resembles a cross between one of the American "Big Three" networks and PBS with commercials. CBC Newsworld News Network is a 24-hour news network, similar to CNN or BBC World News. Its French equivalent is Reseau de l'information (RDI). bold, the CBC's digital TV channel, is not too different from CBC Television. It was originally Country Canada, a rural-oriented joint venture between the CBC and fellow Canadian broadcaster Corus Broadcasting. CBC bought Corus's share in 2002 and added "CBC" to the name. The rural elements of the channel were largely dropped before the name change.

The CBC also provides funding for Canadian television shows, and was once one of the main sources of such funding. However, its budget has suffered in recent years and other networks have stepped up in their place. It also has a bad habit of cutting funding on shows just as they get popular. Between this behavior and recent attempts to introduce "hip" programming on CBC radio, there is some not entirely serious speculation about someone in upper management or the government trying to kill the CBC. Nevertheless, over the years, the station has been responsible for a large number of landmark and notable Canadian series, including Beachcombers, Front Page Challenge, the earliest forms of the Degrassi franchise, and several comedy shows like Royal Canadian Air Farce and This Hour Has 22 Minutes. Not to mention the biggest show on the network, the extremely long-running Hockey Night in Canada.

CBC Television enjoys a significant audience in the border regions of the United States, due in part to its emphasis on Canadian shows as opposed to the US-dominated lineups of its competition (this has been lessened in recent years).

Not to be confused with the Chubu-Nippon Broadcasting Corporation, a TV station in Nagoya, Japan, that shares the same initials.
 * Which arguably could use the logo up top for itself (the "Exploding Pizza"), as the circle in the middle is the rising sun on the flag of Japan, and "Chubu" literally means "Central".