school or business

school or business...

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Just over 4 years ago I went to SXSW for the first time and had the life-changing
experience that it usually is for most music nerds that go. It was also the first time
I had ever seen You Say Party! We Say Die! and my enthusiasm was pretty clear
at the time.

I perhaps saw the band a couple more times since then, and we had worked with
them on some videos, but I was completely shocked and saddened to hear what
happened over the weekend. I think when a group of people spends that amount
of time together-working and living together for months on end-clearly more than what any average group of people, even most families, it must be a totally devastating development
for the entire band and their loved ones.

Audio Masochism

I was excited when CBC Radio 2 decided to change formats a while back, moving away from full-time classical to a more mixed contemporary format. Still some classical on the playlist midday, but otherwise a shift more to what Radio 3 does, but not exclusively Can-con as 3.

All fine and dandy on paper, but I never really got into 2 for quite a while since CBC's
online streaming is extremely shitty, using very dated technology reminiscent of late
'90s Real Player. Maybe it even is?

After buying a Wake Up Light last year, I started using its radio, avoiding
Radio 1's gloomy news-talk format, opting briefly for Q107 (30min in a morning breaks
down to something like 16min of commercials, 2 songs, and too much banter), and then
finally ending up on Radio 2, where it's stayed ever since.

Not that this is an endorsement of that station at all. Original morning host Tom Allen
was bland as hell, and thankfully was shuttled to a later day shift-yes! Great news...
except that his replacement, Bob Mackowycz, is much more closer to intolerable.

Mackowycz dutifully goes along and makes conversation with himself every morning,
no mean feat as something I personally tackled hosting my own college show back
in the day, though he only manages this in the most inane manner possible. An
obsession with repeating his name at every available mic break-sometimes less than
5 minutes apart-would force most listeners away from tuning in for any extended
period of time. This fits a typical morning show format-typical that is, for an all-talk/news
format, but not at all for a contemporary listening program.

Radio 2's ratings are slowly increasing, but still woeful up against its competitors in TO,
and with the original format change part of a movement to go younger, and hopefully,
build a larger audience, one has to wonder how long the status quo can chug along before
changes are made. I keep listening because the music selection isn't bad at all, but maybe
sticking with just the music is a better way to go.