Renegotiations of Canadian Space in Contemporary CBC Audio Distribution Models

Abstract

This paper treats the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) online ventures as examples ofthe national public broadcaster’s continued negotiation of Canadian space. More specifically, the paper looks at the online streaming and podcasting of English language radio broadcast content. This paper accounts for CBC Radio One’s distribution of audio programming—historically by way of national broadcasts and more recently by way of online streaming and podcast archives—as models of Canadian cultural transmission, which marginalize outlying Canadian regions in relation to production centres in Toronto and Montréal. This paper treats CBC Radio One’s collection, assemblage and transmission of programming as better indicators of theinequalities between production centers and outlying regions than any particular programming content. With focus on the most recent incarnation of the CBC radio morning interview show, Q,and drawing from Canadian communication studies, I will outline how the podcasting of Englishlanguage CBC radio programming both rearticulates the broadcaster’s history and presence as acentral manager of Canadian stories, and provides audiences with opportunities to activelyundermine this centralized management.